ELLENSBURG, Wash. -
Korin Baker led three players in double figures with 15 points but it couldn't overcome a tough team shooting night as the Whitman College women's basketball team fell 79-52 at Division II Central Washington on Saturday at Nicholson Pavilion.
Baker added a team-high seven rebounds for the Blues (6-3) who shot only 34% from the field and 21% in three pointers. Carly Martin added 12 points and Elena McHargue, who has really come on as of late, chipped in 10 more.
Samantha Bowman dominated the paint area for the Wildcats to the tune of 31 rebounds to go along with 19 points. Valerie Huerta scored a game-high 24 points and Asher Cai added 12 more.
The Blues found themselves behind the eight ball after falling behind by double digits at the end of the first quarter. The game did start off well as Baker hit her first two shots and Martin connected on a three pointer to put Whitman up 7-4 with 6:46 to play. CWU then began to heat up as Bowman hit back-to-back shots and gave her team a seven-point lead late in the quarter.
The second quarter saw the Blues unable to hit their first shot until McHargue got her jumper to go with 4:09 to play. Meanwhile, the Wildcats had extended the lead to as many as 20 points after 12 unanswered to begin the period. McHargue's three pointer with 3:15 remaining whittled the lead to 13 points but Cai's jumper inside of a minute to play lifted the lead back up to 18 points at the half.
On only a few occasions did Whitman cut the lead to under 20 points in the second half. CWU led by as many as 25 points and closed out the win.
Whitman next travels to Spokane for a neutral site game against Cal Lu on Wednesday, Dec. 28. Tipoff is set for 2:00 p.m.
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