With another regular season in the books, the spotlight shines on the women’s basketball seniors as they prepare to make a push for the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC) championship before they depart. Forward Shelby Blodgett and guards Malia Smith and Sunny Huerta were the three seniors to be honored on senior night.
Huerta is the starting point guard of the team with the offense primarily running through her. She has been a consistent bucket getter for this Wildcat roster as she has recorded three straight seasons of 18 points per game, making her the all-time leading scorer in CWU women’s basketball history. Huerta’s play this season earned her GNAC women’s basketball Player of the Year honors.
Blodgett has been a consistent all-around player for the ‘Cats, providing a little scoring, rebounding and defense. Her averages this season looked like 4.3 points per game and 4 rebounds per game. Found herself on the Academic All-GNAC team.
Smith, another member of the Academic All-GNAC team, has been a flamethrower for this team whether it is from the bench or starting lineup, meaning she can shoot it from range knocking down 37% of her three-point shots over the past three seasons.
Reminiscing over her time at CWU, she explained the growth she has seen in herself and the help she has received to be where she is now. “I have grown so much during my time here at Central as a player but also a person,” Blodgett said. “This environment and our program have allowed me to fully invest in myself and my team and have taught me so many life lessons. This program can be super challenging sometimes, but it’s the reason why so many strong women come out of here and that is truly all thanks to [Coach] Randi.”
Smith also praised the team, thanking them for pushing her to her limits. “I think being a part of this program is so special, I feel like it takes a certain person to be a part of this program. It’s taught me toughness, how to overcome challenges and not being ok with just being average. It’s taught me to love challenges and love being challenged on and off t
he court. It’s also taught me how to hold myself to a higher standard on and off the court too … I wouldn’t be the person or player I am without [Coach] Randi.”
With all three spending plenty of time on the court, they are always able to watch each other’s skill sets improve, Blodgett described how they are able to sharpen each other’s games. “I believe we are all very different players and people. Those differences allow us to fit and work together really well. When I am lacking in a certain area, I know I can go to [Malia] or Sunny and they will have my back.”
New players are coming in and the seniors are on their way out the door, with that process happening during the offseason, Smith touched on how important it is to her to be a leader to the younger girls. “My junior and senior year I’ve taken big steps in my leadership and just tried to be the best role model possible for the underclassmen who are just trying to learn the system and how things go with all of our standards.”
The team finished with a 14-4 conference record earning them the three seed in the GNAC championship tournament. They will travel to Lacey, Wash, where the men’s and womens tournament will be held on the Saint Martin’s University (SMU) home court. The ‘Cats will take on the hosts of the tournament in the number six seed SMU Saints where they look to advance to the semifinals vs Montana State University Billings.
