Thursday, March 7, 2024
by Thomas Lal

Ellensburg, Wash. –  Homecourt never feels as good as it does when you win a postseason game and that’s exactly what Central Washington did, taking a 65-51 victory over Simon Fraser to defeat the Red Leafs for the second straight year and advance to the semifinals of the 2024 GNAC Women’s Basketball Championships.

A close first half eventually gave way to a surging Central Washington offense down the stretch as the No. 4 seed Wildcats handed the No. 5 seed Red Leafs their third straight loss of the season in front of a rowdy home crowd. The victory was keyed by an impressive performance by freshman forward Capri Sims who tied for the team lead with 17 points while shooting 70% from the field. Sims narrowly missed out on a double double in her first tournament appearance as she also finished with nine rebounds.

As a team, Central Washington shot 41.7% from the field and 40% from three-point range. Perimeter defense proved to be a huge strength for the Wildcats as they held the Red Leafs to 8.3% from long range and just a single three-pointer made. Through a hectic game, CWU also forced more errors from the visitors as SFU finished with 16 turnovers.

Central Washington headed into halftime with a narrow 35-31 lead, due in large part to their work on the boards and clutch three-point shooting. Sophomore guard Shelby Blodgett led the way on the boards early on, notching eight in the first quarter and heading to the break with 10 to her name. Blodgett finished the game with 12 rebounds, four points, and three assists. As per usual first team all-conference guard Asher Cai made her presence known in the first half, coming through with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists through the first 20 minutes.

Cai wasn’t the only one to finish the first half with double-digit points though as Simon Fraser’s Gemma Cutler notched 10 of her own while going 4-for-6 from the field to lead the Red Leafs into halftime. As a team, SFU did most of its early work in the paint where they racked up 20 points through the first half to chip away at a Central Washington lead that was as large as 12 points in the second quarter.

Central Washington was the controlling force in the third quarter and benefitted massively from Sims stepping up in a big way. In the first half, Sims notched just four points while getting into some early foul trouble. She responded by coming out of halftime and pouring in 13 points over the third quarter alone, including the first six of the frame as the Wildcats held SFU scoreless for three straight minutes.

Simon Fraser kept things close in the frame, however, with Cutler and Makenna Gardner coming through to keep the Wildcats within arms-length for the final stretch of the quarter. Cutler was the top-scoring player for the Red Leafs in their final game of the season, finishing with 14 points, eight rebounds and a block while shooting 50% from the field. Gardner was tied for second on the team along with Grace Killins with eight points.

First team all-conference guard Sunny Huerta also began to find her rhythm for Central Washington in the second half after picking up five points in the first half. Down the stretch, Huerta showed why she has been a critical player all season for CWU, coming through to also finish the game with 17 points. In addition to her scoring, Huerta picked up two rebounds, a steal and an assist.

The win sets up a rematch of last year’s semifinal meeting as Central Washington now advances to face No. 1 seed Montana State Billings  at 2:15 p.m. in Ellensburg.