BY QUIN WALKER, Staff Reporter
The Central Washington Women’s basketball team will try to get back on the winning path this week.
With a new week to re-gather their thoughts, the Wildcats will face the Crusaders of Northwest Nazarene. The Wildcats (6-10 overall, 1-7 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) are coming off a close loss to Seattle Pacific on Saturday in which three of their players scored in double digits.
The Crusaders (10-6, 3-5) are also coming off a 66-61 loss to Montana State Billings. The Wildcats lost to MSUB last week, a game where they did not play to their standards.
“We need to move forward and play at the level we’re capable of playing at,” senior guard Jessica VanDyke said.
Central Washington currently sits in last place in the GNAC standings. VanDyke will be one of the players to watch in this game. She leads the Wildcats in scoring, averaging 15.8 points per game in 16 games. For Northwest Nazarene, a team that sits in seventh place, a player to watch will be senior guard Megan Hingston. Hingston is averaging 16.5 points per game and will provide a test for the Wildcats to limit her scoring.
Another key matchup for the Wildcats will be sophomore forward Jasmine Parker down in the post against the Crusader’s leading rebounder Kylee Schierman. Schierman is averaging 8.1 rebounds per game. Keeping the forward off the board will be a pivotal thing to watch to ensure victory this Thursday.
Looking at similar opponents as of late, Montana State Billings recently played Seattle Pacific as well, losing to SPU 82-77, very similar to the margin Central Washington lost by. It will be interesting to look at how the Wildcats compete coming off of two consecutive losses. That game will take place at 7 p.m. at Nicholson Pavilion on Thursday Jan. 23.
Another game for the Wildcats will take place against the first place Seawolves of Alaska Anchorage (12-3, 5-2). This will be a road test on Saturday which is a rematch of a recently played game.
“We should have beat Anchorage,” head coach Shawn Nelson said.
The Wildcats lost a heart breaker to Anchorage, 82-80, a game where junior forward Courtney Johnson scored 27 points, her season high.
“We can play this style, against Alaska we played in the 80s,” Coach Nelson said, referring to the high paced style the Wildcats will see in this game against the Seawolves.
One matchup for the Wildcats that will provide some trouble will be junior guard Alli Madison. Madison is averaging 15.3 points per game for the Seawolves.
The Wildcats will need to win both games this week to get back into contention in conference play.
