ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Women's Basketball Team earned a hard-fought victory over rival Western Washington to break their tie in the GNAC standings Thursday evening. CWU was led by Sunny Huerta who led the game with 24 points.
 
INSIDE THE MATCHUP:
 

• Final: Central Washington (74), Western Washington (63)
• Records: CWU (16-5, 9-3 GNAC), WWU (13-8, 8-4 GNAC)
• Location: Nicholson Arena, Ellensburg, Wash.

 
QUOTING CWU HEAD WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH RANDI RICHARDSON:
 
"WWU is a very good team, and we knew we needed to take some steps forward in executing consistently on both sides of the ball in order to have the success we wanted. I felt like our team did that tonight. I'm happy for them to get the result we did tonight. Now it's onto the recover battle for Saturday."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 

• Olivia Wikstrom scored the first points of the game with a three but was responded to by back-to-back buckets from Shelby Blodgett to give the 'Cats their first lead of the game at 4-3.
• A layup from Huerta and a three from Malia Smith made it a four-point lead which the teams continued to contest over the next few minutes.
• An 8-0 run by the Vikings saw the lead switch to WWU, now leading by three with 1:28 left in the first.
• A layup by Capri Sims made it a 19-18 WWU lead after the first 10 minutes.
• The Wildcats saw two quick buckets, one from Sims and one from Asher Cai to start the second and make it a 22-19 crimson and black lead.
• The two teams exchanged buckets over the next several possessions until a layup and an and one from Huerta followed by a layup from Cai made it a 32-25 CWU lead with 6:41 left in the second.
• Back-to-back layups from Blodgett and Huerta made it a 36-27 CWU lead with 5:05 left in the quarter.
• WWU went on a 6-0 run to dice the lead down to three only to be answered by back-to-back threes from Annalee Coronado and Smith followed by a layup from Sims to give the 'Cats their first double-digit lead of the night at 44-33 with 1:04 left in the second.
• A three by Wikstrom ended the first half as CWU led 44-36.
• A pair of free-throws by Cai opened the third quarter as the 'Cats started out on a quick 6-2 run to make it a 50-39 game with 8:20 left.
• The two teams continued to battle back-and-forth, but back-to-back layups by Huerta and Cai made it a 56-43 'Cats lead with 3:17 left.
• The layup and an and one by Huerta followed by a layup from Coronado wrapped up the third quarter with CWU leading 61-45.
• Jadyn Watts of WWU earned the first bucket of the fourth quarter but was immediately responded to with a three from Huerta and a free-throw by Sims to put the 'Cats up 65-47 with 7:47 left in the game.
• The two teams continued to battle as the 'Cats responded to any attempt the Vikings made to cut into the CWU capped by a three from Huerta to make it a 72-57 crimson and black lead with 2:26 left.
• A quick 6-0 lead by the Vikings cut the Wildcat lead to nine, 72-63, but a pair of free-throws by Huerta and Keira Marsh wrapped up the game to seal the Wildcat victory, 74-63.

 
STATS FROM THE GAME:
 

• Huerta led the game with 24 points, adding six rebounds and three assists.
• Cai added 14 points, two rebounds, four assists, one block, and six steals.
• Sims finished with another double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds and added one assists, two blocks, and one steal.
• Smith and Coronado each tacked on nine points with Smith adding two rebounds, three assists, and one block and Coronado adding two rebounds and four assists.
• Blodgett had six points, two rebounds, and one assists while Marsh finished with one point, two rebounds, one block, and one steal.
• Aliyah Finch had one rebound and two blocks.
• The Wildcats finished the game shooting 53.8 percent from the floor, 46.2 percent from three, and 75 percent at the free-throw line.
• WWU was held to 40 percent from the floor, 26.3 percent from three, and 90.9 percent at the free-throw line.
• The 'Cats won the rebound battle 33-27.

 
SERIES HISTORY:
 

• The Vikings now lead the series 70-15 since 1988.
• CWU is 8-32 inside Nicholson Arena.
• The victory today broke a six-game win-streak the Vikings had.

 
UP NEXT:
 

• The Wildcats will entertain the Simon Fraser Red Leafs (11-10, 4-8 GNAC) on Saturday as they come to Ellensburg for a 4:00 p.m. tip-off from inside Nicholson Arena.