ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Women's Basketball Team bounced back with a big victory over the visiting in-state rival Seattle Pacific Falcons Thursday evening.
Asher Cai had her fifth-straight 20-plus point game, leading the 'Cats with 23 points.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
- Final: Central Washington (88), Seattle Pacific (65)
- Records: CWU (11-4, 4-2 GNAC), SPU (6-13, 0-6 GNAC)
- Location: Nicholson Arena, Ellensburg, Wash.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- SPU earned the first bucket of the game, but an offensive rebound by Capri Sims that was thrown out to Sunny Huerta who tossed it over to Malia Smith who drained a three made it a 3-2 CWU lead.
- Buckets by Huerta, Cai, and Aliyah Finch as well as threes from Smith and Cai ballooned the Wildcat lead to 15-2 with 4:43 left in the first.
- A pair of free-throws by Jordy DeMott and a layup by Emilia Bishop at the 3:01 mark proved to be the final buckets of the first quarter as CWU led 17-7.
- A 12-4 run by the Falcons to open the second quarter cut the Wildcat lead down to just two, 21-19 with 7:11 left in the first.
- The teams continued to battle with the Wildcats building up a multi-possession lead, but the Falcons dwindling it back down to a single possession the next few minutes.
- Two layups by Huerta and another by Coronado extended the CWU lead to nine, 36-27 with 1:24 left.
- A free-throw by Coronado ended the half as the Wildcats took the 39-32 halftime advantage.
- Once again, the two teams continued to go back-and-forth until 6:29 when SPU started a 7-0 run to make it a 44-43 CWU lead forcing Coach Richardson to call a timeout.
- The teams went back and forth the next couple of possessions but a pair of free-throws by Huerta, a layup by Shelby Blodgett, and a pair of layups by Cai made it a 57-46 CWU lead with 1:33 left in the third.
- A three by Huerta was responded to by a layup from Hunter Beirne of SPU to end the third with the 'Cats holding a 60-50 lead.
- Layne Kearns opened the fourth for the Falcons with a big three, but Sims started to heat up in the paint with four quick points to put CWU back up by double-digits, 64-53 with 8:19 left.
- A jumper by Lolo Weatherspoon made it a single-digit lead for the 'Cats once again and following a timeout called by Coach Richardson, the Wildcats went on a tear with the and-one from Huerta as well as a layup and a three from Coronado put the 'Cats up 74-57 with 4:35 left.
- A layup from Sims, an and-one as well as a three from Coronado, and a layup from Keira Marsh solidified the Wildcats lead and made it 86-61 with 1:14 left.
- A jumper from Coronado and a layup from Bishop of SPU wrapped up the game as the crimson and black earned the 88-65 victory.
STATS FROM THE GAME:
- Cai led the 'Cats once again with 23 points, adding nine rebounds, seven assists, one block, and seven steals.
- Huerta wasn't far behind with 22 points, five rebounds, six assists, and two steals.
- Coronado was the other 'Cat to finish in double-digits with 18 points, adding five rebounds and two assists.
- Blodgett tacked on seven points, two rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
- Both Smith and Sims finished with six points with Smith adding a rebound and an assist and Sims tacking on eight rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
- Marsh, DeMott, and Finch all had two points with all three also adding a rebound and Finch tacking on a block.
- CWU shot 53.1 percent from the floor, 52.6 percent from three, and 83.3 percent at the free-throw line.
- The Falcons were contained to 39.7 percent shooting from the floor, 29.3 percent from three, and 28.6 percent at the free-throw line.
- The Wildcats edged the Falcons in the rebound battle 40-37.
SERIES HISTORY:
- The Falcons now lead the series 45-21 since 1988.
- CWU is 17-17 against SPU in Nicholson Arena.
- The Wildcats are 7-3 against The Falcons in the past 10 matchups.
UP NEXT:
- The crimson and black will have a tough task ahead as they host the 6th-ranked Montana State Billings Yellowjackets (16-3, 5-1 GNAC) on Saturday in Nicholson Arena with a 4:00 p.m. tip-off time.
