The Central Wildcats women’s basketball team is getting ready for an exciting first round playoff matchup with in-state rival Western Washington University Vikings (WWU).

The Wildcats were assisted by Montana State Billings and Alaska Fairbanks losing their games.

Those losses helped the Wildcats clinched a playoff berth after losing to Saint Martin’s University 49-46 last Saturday. Central will be the sixth and final seed.

The playoff experience is a new one for the Wildcats (12-14 overall, 7-11 GNAC).

The last time they were in the playoffs was 2003. First year head coach, Jeff Harada has made strides in his inaugural year with this program.

The Wildcats will face the Vikings in the first round. The two teams have met twice this season and the Vikings have won both contests.

The first matchup the Vikings were able to come away with a 76-68 victory in Ellensburg.

The second matchup was a nail-biter, as the Vikings won on a last second shot off a missed free throw 62-61.

Senior forward, Courtney Johnson, is looking forward to the opportunity to knock off their in-state rival.

“Western is our big rival, it would be awesome to beat them,” Johnson said.

Sophomore guard, Taylor Peacocke, had a great game in the first match up, putting up 20 points. Peacocke is averaging 13.7 points per game this year.

To go along with Peacocke the Vikings look to their senior guard Katie Colard. Colard put up 16 points in her first game versus the Wildcats and 14 in the second.

Colard is averaging an impressive 11.4 points per game.

Johnson knows how important her production is as well as her leadership.

“I have a lot of leadership skills playing these past three years,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to lead by example, make this the best year and really try and change this program.”

The Wildcats will be hoping to get some steady production out of their top players as the tournament kicks off.

Johnson is averaging 13.7 points per game to go along with 5.5 rebounds per game. Johnson’s senior leadership will be needed in the playoffs to keep the team going.

Senior center, Jasmine Parker, can put up points when the team needs them or grab a tough rebound in traffic.

She is averaging 10.3 points per game and 7.7 rebounds per game.

Harada is very pleased with the play and mentality of Parker.

“She [Parker] is being aggressive, I have talked to her about staying aggressive,” Harada said. “She has that big play ability, she has the ability to take over games. She has been wanting the ball lately and we have been giving it to her and she is doing good things with it.”

To round out the three go-to players for the Wildcats, they  also have their freshman point guard Jasmin Edwards.

Edwards was named GNAC Freshman of the Year for her efforts.

Edwards has had a great start to her career and has a chance to make an impact in the playoffs as a freshman. This season Edwards is averaging 12.2 points per game and 4.7 assists per game.

The GNAC tournament tips off at 5:15 p.m., March 4 and concludes March 7.