• Boxscore & Play-by-Play

SEATTLE – Luv Rattler led all scorers with 20 points for Central Washington, which sandwiched six-point runs around halftime Wednesday to claim a 72-61 women's basketball win over St. Edward's in the first round of the Falcons Invitational at Seattle Pacific's Brougham Pavilion.

The Wildcats (5-3) led for most of the first half, but found themselves behind 25-24 when SEU's Sarah Milewski made a free throw with 4:13 left on the clock.

Central closed the period with six unanswered points, beginning with a putback by Aleyse Evans with 1:44 remaining. Stacy Albrecht made a jump shot at 1:22 and Rattler converted two free throws at 0:37 to forge CWU's 30-25 halftime advantage.

After shooting just 1-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half, the Wildcats made their first two treys after intermission, by Rattler and Sophie Russell, to increase the margin to 36-25.

Central's lead grew to as many as 15 points in the second half before the Hiltoppers (7-5) rallied to trim their deficit to 56-51 on a pair of free throws by Milewski with six minutes to play. The Wildcats converted 12 of 14 free throws inside the final six minutes, including 6 of 6 from Rattler, to secure the victory.

Russell finished with 13 points for CWU and Evans added 12.

Stephanie Dekkers scored 14 points to pace St. Edward's, which also got 11 from Brittany Ward and 10 from Kasey Harlos.

Both teams remain in Seattle to participate in the second day of the Falcons Invitational. Central Washington will play Notre Dame de Namur at 5 p.m. on Thursday and St. Edward's will square off with host Seattle Pacific at 7 p.m.


NCAA Women's Basketball
Falcons Invitational
Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2010
Brougham Pavilion/Seattle, Wash.

CENTRAL WASHINGTON 72, ST. EDWARD'S 61

CENTRAL WASHINGTON (5-3)
Rattler 4-11 11-12 20; Russell 3-10 4-5 13; Evans 6-10 0-1 12; Albrecht 4-7 0-2 8; Payne 1-6 4-4 6; Burke 1-2 3-3 5; Love 2-5 0-0 4; Moser 1-2 0-0 2; Jacobson 1-2 0-0 2; Gordon 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 23-57 22-27 72.

ST. EDWARD'S (7-5)
Dekkers 4-11 3-4 14; Ward 3-10 3-6 11; Harlos 4-9 0-0 10; Tidwell 3-9 0-0 8; Lowrance 4-5 0-0 8; Milewski 1-8 3-4 5; Adams 0-9 3-4 3; James 1-2 0-0 2; Rocquemore 0-0 0-1 0; Barr 0-1 0-0 0; Field 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-64 12-19 61.

Halftime -- CWU 30, SEU 25.

3-point goals--Central Washington 4-21 (Russell 3-8; Rattler 1-4; Payne 0-3; Burke 0-1; Love 0-2; Jacobson 0-1; Gordon 0-2), St. Edward's 9-26 (Dekkers 3-9; Tidwell 2-4; Harlos 2-5; Ward 2-4; Barr 0-1; Adams 0-1; Milewski 0-2). Fouled out--Central Washington-Evans, St. Edward's- Ward. Rebounds--Central Washington 43 (Albrecht 12), St. Edward's 44 (Milewski 9; Adams 9). Assists--Central Washington 13 (Rattler 7), St. Edward's 12 (Harlos 4). Total fouls--Central Washington 15, St. Edward's 23. Technical fouls--Central Washington-None, St. Edward's-None. Att.-150.