ELLENSBURG, Wash. – The Central Washington University Women's Basketball team was announced on Sunday as the sixth seed in the west region of the NCAA Division II Tournament and will head to sunny SoCal for a battle against the PacWest Champions, the Point Loma Sea Lions (25-5, 18-2 PacWest) in the first round.
GAME INFORMATION
Friday, March 14
12:00 p.m.
#6 Central Washington vs. #3 Point Loma
Torodome
Carson, Calif.
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QUOTING CWU HEAD WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COACH RANDI RICHARDSON
"I'm very happy for our team, this was a goal of ours to get into the national tournament. We are hungry and excited to go out and compete. Point Loma will be a great challenge off the jump as they are extremely well coached on both sides of the ball and have a very talented roster which includes from my viewpoint two of the top players in the region. Our group has worked extremely hard and has grinded since October to get to this point. Now it's time to take all that we have learned and all the ways we have grown and leave it all on the court for 40 minutes."
NCAA WEST REGION
This year's west regional will be hosted by CCAA Champion Cal State Dominguez Hills who was ranked fourth in the country in this week's WBCA Poll with a 31-1 record and is hosting their second west region in the past three seasons. The Toros will play NCAA Tournament regular, the Azusa Pacific Cougars (22-6). The winner of that game will play the winner of the game between two very familiar Wildcat opponents, the GNAC-winning Alaska Anchorage Seawolves (27-4) and the Montana State Billings Yellowjackets (25-7) who are the fourth and fifth seeds, respectfully.
On CWU's side of the bracket, the Wildcats get the PacWest Champion, the Point Loma Sea Lions. The winner of the matchup plays the winner of the two and seven-seeded matchup between two CCAA rivals, the second-seeded Cal Poly Pomona Broncos (25-5) and the seventh-seeded Wildcats of Chico State (23-7).
SCOUTING THE SEA LIONS
The Sea Lions earned their second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance after falling in the first round as the seventh seed to the eventual final four bound Cal State San Marcos by an 82-61 score. Point Loma backed up that NCAA appearance with their first ever PacWest Regular Season Championship and followed it up with their first ever PacWest Tournament Championship in a 58-51 victory over the surging Dominican Penguins. PLNU has gone 3-2 on the season against teams that qualified for the west regional including a season sweep of PacWest rival Azusa Pacific and a tight two-point home victory over the GNAC Champions in Alaska Anchorage. Their two setbacks were a three-point loss at the hosting Toros of CSUDH and a five-point loss against Cal Poly Pomona in a neutral site game.
Point Loma averages 66.5 points per game and is one of the more stingy defensive teams giving up only 57.9 points per game to their opponents. They shoot 43.8 percent from the floor, 35.1 percent from three, and 75.9 percent from the free-throw line while their opponents shoot 36.8 percent from the floor, 30.3 percent from three, and 71.5 percent at the free-throw line. PLNU averages 37.3 rebounds per game compared to the 31.7 their opponents grab. They dish out 14.8 assists and averaged 15.9 turnovers per game while their opponents turn the ball over 14.8 times per game with 6.3 coming as steals for the Sea Lions. Point Loma adds four blocks per game.
Tavia Rowell and Alli McDonald pace the Sea Lions with 13.6 and 11.5 points per game, respectfully with McDonald being a threat for a double-double every game averaging 9.2 rebounds per contest. Kaylee Byon has contributed the most assists with 154 while Eiley Tippins has the most blocks with 42 on the season and McDonald has the most steals at 35.
UP NEXT
If the Wildcats are to prevail, they would face the winner of the #2 Cal Poly Pomona and #7 Chico State game in the west region semifinals on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.
