Jan. 16, 2015
CWU Women's Basketball Buzz Yellowjackets 75-54
The Central Washington University women's basketball team shot 54-percent from the field, had five players score in double-digits and defeated Montana State University Billings by a score of 75-54 in Alterowitz Gymnasium, Thursday night.
The first win on the road for the Wildcats improves their record to 9-6 overall and 4-3 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference as the Yellowjackets fall to 9-7 overall and 1-5 in conference.
"We executed well, I thought our spacing was good and our cuts were hard. We were screening well and hit the open shot. Our energy was good tonight," Head coach Jeff Harada said. "Our defense was good, and we trusted each other and executed the game plan. We wanted [MSUB] to take the tough shot and it was important to grab rebounds on the defensive end to limit second and third chance opportunities."
MSUB jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, but the Wildcats came storming back with a 7-0 run aided by an Erika Locker jumper and layups from Courtney Johnson and India Matheson to give CWU a 9-7 advantage. The Wildcats would never trail the contest again.
Matheson, in her second start of the year, finished a rebound shy of a double-double as she scored 14 points and snatched nine rebounds. Jasmine Parker added another 10 points and seven rebounds as the Wildcats dominated inside scoring 40 points in the paint.
"She had another great game and is playing with a ton of confidence right now," Harada said of Matheson. "She is playing hard and playing smart. Our post players combined for 36 points and 19 rebounds tonight and that makes it hard for a team to guard when we get that three-headed monster of Parker, Matheson and Alexis Berrysmith rolling."
The Wildcats had it going in all phases of the game. The team outrebounded the 'Jackets 34 to 20, grabbing eight offensive rebounds for a total of 12 second chance points. They also outshot the 'Jackets from behind the arc 33-percent to 27-percent and went to the charity stripe 20 times versus 11 trips by the opponent.
"I'm really proud of their effort and focus tonight," Harada said. "We knew how important this game was for both teams, but especially for us since we dropped a home game last week."
Freshman Jasmin Edwards continues her stellar play as she recorded 16 points to go along with seven assists. Edwards dazzled the crowd when she used a left-to-right crossover off a screen and bolted to the rim for a layup and foul to increase the Wildcats' lead to 62-48 after the made free throw with 4:39 remaining in the second half.
The Wildcats will turn their attention towards its Saturday matchup versus Seattle Pacific University for their second game of a three game road swing.
"SPU is a good team with only one loss on the year," Harada said. "But we are playing some good basketball and playing well on both ends. We are believing in each other, and with that, we are becoming a more confident team and looking to continue our good play."