by ELLENSBURG, Wash. – Halloween turned out to be more trick than treat for the NU Eagle women as they were defeated by Central Washington, 97-51, in their season opener for the Wildcats. It was an exhibition game for both teams. NU played without the services of four players, all out with injuries.
CWU never trailed in the game jumping out to a 12-0 lead to start the game. Mariah Stacona (Warm Springs Tribe) the Eagles into the scoring column with 6:30 to go in the first quarter with a 3-pointer. All of NU’s first quarter points would come on 3-point field goals as the Eagles would drain five of them to trail 33-15 at the end of the period.
With 6:04 to go in the second quarter a 3-point play by Kalee Fowler would close the gap top 37-22, but the Wildcats would score 8 straight points to increase their lead to 23 at 45-22. Jessalyn Henry would hit a jumper and Kalee Fowler would drop in another one as NU would make it a 50-33 game at halftime. NU closed out the half hitting 52% of their shots while CWU drained 56%. NU hit an impressive 85% of their 3-point attempts, going 6 for 7 from long range.
Central Washington would continue to hit a high percentage of shots in the second half, 53%, but Northwest U would cool to 7 for 27 and 26% shooting. By the end of the third quarter, CWU would stretch their lead to 78-38. The Wildcats would continue to score well while holding the Eagles offense at bay as they would go on to post the 97-51 exhibition win.
Mariah Stacona would score all of her 14 points in the first half while teammate Kalee Fowler would score six of her 14 points in the second half for Northwest U. Freshman Andie Kristinat, just activated from redshirt status on Monday due to a number of Eagle injuries hit 3 of 4 3-point attempts for 9 points in 13 minutes of play. NU managed just 18 rebounds while CWU pulled down 47, 20 offensive.
For Central Washington, Mandy Steward led the way with 15 points. Sadie Mensing added 13 points while Kaelie Flores scored 11 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. The Wildcats finished the game shooting 54% and 44% of their 3-point shots. CWU totaled 29 assists for the game.
“It was a tough game for the Eagles tonight,” said NU coach, Ken Crawford. “We ran into a very fast and athletic Central Washington team and we learned a lot. We hope to take these lessons and push ourselves to the next level of performance.”
Next Up: The Eagles will make a long road trip to Montana next weekend for games Carroll College on Nov. 9, Providence on Nov. 10 and Montana State Northern on Nov. 11.
