The Seattle Pacific Falcons begin their second loop through the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s basketball schedule this week, heading onto the road for stops at Central Washington and Northwest Nazarene.
SPU visits the Wildcats in just-reopened Nicholson Pavilion on Thursday at 5:15 p.m. Then on Saturday, it’s off to Idaho and a stop at the Johnson Sports Center to take on the Nighthawks at 4:15 p.m. Pacific time.
Both games will be the openers of doubleheaders that also include the Falcon men. Seattle Pacific and Central Washington tangle at 7:30 p.m. in Ellensburg. Saturday’s game in Nampa starts at 6:30 p.m. Pacific time.
The Falcon women (11-6, 6-3 GNAC) are coming off a home split last week. They went down to the wire against No. 6-ranked Western Washington before coming up short, 58-53. But they bounced back on Saturday, using a 14-1 run in the third quarter to take charge on the way to a 64-53 win against Simon Fraser.
SCOUTING THE CENTRAL WASHINGTON WILDCATS: 13-4, 6-3 GNAC (tie 3rd)
All-time series: SPU leads, 51-36. Current series streak: SPU won 1. Last time:
SPU 70, CWU 63 (Dec. 31, 2022 at Seattle). Last CWU series win: CWU 63, SPU 55 (Feb. 26, 2022 at Ellensburg).
Wildcats in a nutshell: Redshirt senior 6-foot-3 center Samantha Bowman went for 32 points, 22 rebounds, four assists, two blocked shots, and one steal in playing all 45 minutes of last Saturday’s 79-77 overtime victory at home against Northwest Nazarene. She has double-doubled in 17 of Central’s 18 games this season, and now averages 20.6 points and 15.8 rebounds. Sophomore 5-4 point guard Valerie Huerta averages 18.7 points per game. When they played at SPU on New Year’s Eve afternoon, Bowman had 20 points and 16 boards; Huerta’s numbers were 16 points and five assists. Asher Cai, a freshman 5-9 shooting guard, contributes 13.4 points per game. She had 14 in the December game.
