The CWU men’s and women’s basketball teams returned to Nicholson Pavilion and won three straight games combined this past weekend, after having to postpone home games earlier in the month due to COVID-19 issues.

The first win came on Thursday, Jan. 20, when the CWU women’s team (11-4) beat visiting Saint Martin’s University (SMU) (9-6) 90-75. Redshirt senior forward Kassidy Malcolm led the team in scoring with 28 points off 12-20 shooting (2-5 from three). 

Redshirt senior guard Kizzah Maltezo finished second on the team with 27 points off of 10-18 shooting (6-9 from three). Redshirt junior center Samantha Bowman led the team in rebounds with 14.

CWU finished the night shooting 57.6% (34-59) from the field and an efficient 52.2% (12-23) from three, while the defense held SMU to just 48.3% from the field (29-60) and just 30% (6-20) from three. 

The CWU women’s team continued its roll on Saturday when it beat Western Oregon University (WOU) 74-55. 

After only leading by two points at halftime, CWU outscored WOU (7-7) 43-26 in the second half. Malcolm again led CWU in scoring with 22 points on 9-12 shooting (6-9 from three) and Bowman once again led CWU in rebounds with 14. 

CWU once again shot efficiently shooting 47.5% (29-61) from the field but struggled with threes only making 43.3% (13-30). The defense, however, showed up again, holding WOU to only 32.9% (23-70) from the field and 28% (7-25) from three. 

The CWU men’s team (9-3) followed the women’s with another strong win with a 90-67 victory over WOU (3-10). The men were led by the duo of senior forward Marqus Gilson and senior guard Xavier Smith who put up 23 and 20 points respectively. 

Gilson shot 10-17 from the floor and also led the team in rebounds with 12 and had one assist and steal.

The CWU men shot an efficient 59%(36-61) from the field while shooting 46.7% (7-15) from three. 

The defense held WOU to just 42.4% (25-59) from the field and 40.7% (11-27) from three. 

The CWU men will next face Simon Frasier University (SFU) in back-to-back games on Jan. 25 and Jan. 27, one of them being a rescheduled home game from Jan. 1 before traveling to take on Western Washington University on Saturday Jan. 29. 

The CWU women will go on the road to face SFU on Jan. 25 before playing at home Saturday Jan. 29 against Northwest Nazarene University.