Campus Notices

The Central Washington basketball teams were back in action following the brief holiday break. Both teams were on the road at Montana State-Billings Thursday night and Seattle Pacific Saturday afternoon. 

The men's basketball team suffered a weekend sweep, first losing to MSUB 63-47, followed by a 93-84 setback against SPU. Against MSUB Matt Poquette was the lone double-digit scorer with 19 as the three-point shot just wasn't landing for the Wildcats. On the bright side the Wildcat defense looked really impressive collecting six blocks (led by Samaad Hectors three) and five steals (Poquette and Brock Gilbert each tied with two to lead CWU.) Newcomers Noah Pepper and Freddy Brown III provided a nice spark off the bench with six and five points, respectively. 

The Wildcats couldn't stop the offensive prowess that was the Seattle Pacific Falcons on Saturday as SPU drained 17 three-pointers throughout the game (tied for 3rd most in a single game in GNAC history.) However, the CWU offense looked a lot better shooting 50 percent on the night and 40 percent from three-point tries. Five different Wildcats posted double-digit scores, led by Poquette with 18 points to go with 11 rebounds in a double-double effort. Pepper came off the bench and drained 14 points as well as Colby Gennett draining 12 off the bench. Hector and Camron McNeil each tallied 12 points as well. Gilbert provided the Wildcats with 12 assists which has been the single-game season high for this season so far. Hector provided the two blocks on the night for CWU while the 'Cats forced the Falcons to cough up seven steals as Gilbert and Pepper forced three each to lead CWU. 

The women's basketball team settled for a split on an extremely difficult weekend road trip. They defeated the receiving votes in the national poll MSUB Thursday in a 70-44 win. However, the momentum just couldn't swing enough against SPU where the 'Cats fell in a close 70-63 contest to the Falcons on Saturday. Against the Yellow Jackets of MSUB the 'Cats used stellar defense to propel their win, including allowing only five points in the second quarter. Sunshine Huerta led all scores with 18 points, followed closely behind by Asher Cai with 16 points, while Sam Bowman notched another double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. The Wildcats out rebounded the Yellow Jackets 55-32, as Claire Heitschmidt also posted double-figure rebounds with 11. CWU shot 50 percent from the floor and 34.6 percent from three-point attempts on the night. 

The Wildcats suffered a classic case of playing good... but not good enough for the win on Saturday. The Wildcats shot a solid 42.9 percent from the floor and a 32.1 percent night from three-point attempts, however the 'Cats were only able to get to the free-throw line once the entire night. It didn't help that SPU's Ashley Alter decided to knock down 31 points on the afternoon. Bowman still provided Wildcat fans a stellar afternoon posting another double-double with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Sunshine and Cai each had 16 and 14 points, respectively to round out the double-digit scorers for CWU. Ashley Schow had two blocks for CWU while Tori Maeda has two of the Wildcats three steals on the afternoon. 

Both teams will be back in central Washington this upcoming weekend. Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake will be acting as host this weekend. The men's basketball team will be hosting the Alaskan schools as Anchorage comes to Moses Lake first on Thursday night with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. A clash against Fairbanks on Saturday afternoon will round out the weekend for the men's team in Moses Lake with tip-off set for 6:15 p.m. The women's basketball team will look to avenge their loss to SPU against arch-nemesis, the currently 8th-ranked Western Washington Vikings. The Vikings and Wildcats square off in Moses Lake on Thursday with a 5:15 p.m. tip-off. The Simon Fraser Red Leafs will be CWU's opponent to finish the weekend as the Red Leafs and Wildcats battle in Moses Lake on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. 

The men's rugby team is getting set to hit the pitch later this month when they start their 2023 season. The Wildcats will make haste to Western Washington and Trinity Western to open their season. The Wildcats first take on the Vikings of WWU on January 28th at 1:00 p.m. in Bellingham. Then in the same day the 'Cats head across the border to Langley, British Columbia to see Trinity Western on the 28th at 6:00 p.m. 

The indoor track and field teams will be back in action on January 13th and 14th when they participate in the Spokane Indoor Challenge at The Podium in Spokane. 

We are a month away from the start of the Wildcat softball season. The Wildcats will look to build off the learning experiences of last season and with an up-and-down off-season will be more than excited to hit the field again. The softball team opens the season at the CUI Kick-Off Classic in Irvine, Calif. CWU will play five games against west-region teams over the span of three days. 

CUI Kick-Off Classic CWU Schedule

Friday Feb. 3rd - vs. California State-Monterey Bay 2:00 p.m.

Friday Feb. 3rd - vs. San Francisco State 6:30 p.m.

Saturday Feb. 4th - vs. California State-East Bay 11:00 a.m. 

Saturday Feb. 4th - vs. Azusa Pacific 4:00 p.m.

Sunday Feb. 5th - vs. California State-Dominguez Hills 9:30 a.m. 

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