ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Women's Basketball Team will embrace another pair of tough road tests as they travel to Montana State Billings and Seattle Pacific this week.
 
GAME INFORMATION
 
Thursday, February 13
4:15 p.m. PST
Central Washington at #16 Montana State Billings
Alterowitz Gymnasium
Billings, Mont.
WATCH LIVE STATS TICKETS
 
Saturday, Febraury 15
4.15 p.m.
Central Washington at Seattle Pacific
Royal Brougham Pavilion
Seattle, Wash.
WATCH LIVE STATS TICKETS
 
QUOTING CWU HEAD WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH RANDI RICHARDSON
 
"Every week this time of the year is a big week, and our team needs to come prepared for two competitive games that will require great effort and a very high level of execution. MSUB is a top team not only in our conference but also our region. They have a ton of talent who have won a ton of games there. They execute at a high level on both sides of the ball. They're a tough team to beat on the road and our group needs to be ready to compete and execute at our highest level. SPU is a team who is much better than their record indicates. We had a very close matchup at home against them first time around and will expect it to be no different on the road. They have a ton of talent and can put up points at a high rate. Both games are critical, and we need to embrace the challenges ahead of us to go out and compete."
 
LAST WEEKEND
 
The Wildcats earned a pair of home victories last weekend over rivals Western Washington and Simon Fraser.
 
CWU first broke a six-game losing streak to WWU, defeating the Vikings by a 74-63 score. Sunny Huerta led the way with 24 points, adding six rebounds and three assists. GNAC Player of the Week Capri Sims logged a double-double finishing with 11 points and 13 rebounds while adding one assist, two blocks, and one steal. CWU finished the game shooting 53.8 percent from the floor, 46.2 percent from three, and 75 percent at the free-throw line. They outrebounded the Vikings 33-27.
 
The Wildcats extended their win-streak over Simon Fraser to seven games with a 79-72 victory on Saturday. Huerta once again led the crimson and black dropping 23 points, three rebounds, eight assists, and two steals. Sims added another double-double with a career-high 21 points to go with 12 rebounds, two assists, one block, and three steals. Asher Cai also added 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists, and two steals. The Wildcats finished the game shooting 55.6 percent from the floor, 40 percent from three, and a perfect 11-11 at the free-throw line. They outrebounded SFU 39-32.
 
SCOUTING THE #16 YELLOWJACKETS
 
MSUB is 21-4 on the year with a 10-2 GNAC record, winning five-straight games. CWU squeaked away with a 48-45 victory in Ellensburg back on January 18. Since then, the Yellowjackets defeated Alaska Fairbanks 71-51, handed Alaska Anchorage their first conference loss by a 70-55 score both at home, then took to the road and defeated Seattle Pacific 77-67, St. Martin's 48-43, and Western Oregon 76-60.
 
Montana State Billings is averaging 68.2 points per game while only giving up 55.3 points to their opponents on average. The Yellowjackets are shooting 41.4 percent from the floor, 35.1 percent from three, and 73.6 percent from the free-throw line while holding their opponents to 37.9 percent shooting from the floor, 26.8 percent from three, and 70.6 percent at the charity stripe. They're outrebounding their opponents 38.9 rebounds per game to the 32.1 their opponents are snatching and are dishing out 16.6 assists per game. MSUB is only turning the ball over 14.5 times per game compared to the 17 times their opponents are turning the ball over with 9.1 coming as steals by the Yellowjackets. The Yellowjackets are averaging 3.9 blocks per game.
 
Dyauni Boyce and Aspen Giese are leading the offensive charge for MSUB, averaging 15.2 and 13.2 points per game, respectively. Kortney Nelson is the leading rebounder, averaging 6.7 rebounds per game and has dished out the most assists with 113 on the season. Giese has the most steals at 49 on the season while Kaitlin Grossman has 22 blocks so far to lead the 'Jackets.
 
SCOUTING THE FALCONS
 
SPU is 6-19 on the season and 0-12 in GNAC play. The Wildcats used a big second half to pull away and earn the 88-65 victory in Ellensburg back on January 16. Since CWU and SPU met last, the Falcons fell at Northwest Nazarene 88-84, then got swept at home by the Alaska schools, first to Anchorage 90-54 then to Fairbanks 88-82. They fell at home to MSUB 77-67 then got swept on the road 58-53 at Western Oregon and 78-63 at St. Martin's.
 
The Falcons are getting outscored 64.9 points per game to the 73.6 points their opponents are averaging. The Falcons are shooting the ball at a clip of 40.2 percent from the floor, 27 percent from three, and 71.3 percent from the free-throw line while their opponents are averaging 42.2 percent from the floor, 35.7 percent from three, and 74 percent at the free-throw line. Seattle Pacific is averaging 36.6 rebounds per game while their opponents are grabbing 38.6 rebounds per game. The Falcons are averaging 12.3 assists per game. SPU turns the ball over 18.1 times per game and forces their opponents to turn the ball over 16 times per contest with 7.9 coming as steals. The Falcons lead the GNAC with 4.2 blocks per game.
 
Hunter Beirne is the only Falcon averaging double-digits at 13.6 points per game. Madison Rubino has edged out the lead in rebounds, averaging 4.8 per game, but three other Falcons are averaging over four rebounds per game. Beirne leads the assists category with 94 on the year while Layne Kearns leads the way with 30 steals and Rubino paving the block party with 20 on the year.
 
UP NEXT
 
The Wildcats will be back in Nicholson Arena for one final weekend of the 2024-25 season next weekend. They host Western Oregon (8-13, 4-9 GNAC) on Thursday, February 20 at 5:15 p.m. then host St. Martin's (13-8, 6-7 GNAC) on Saturday, February 22 at 4:00 p.m. for Senior Night.