Seattle University women’s basketball, the preseason favorite to win the 2013-14 Western Athletic Conference title, hosted Central Washington in an exhibition contest and came away with the win, 91-60.
“I really liked our intensity and effort today,” said head coach Joan Bonvicini. “We started the game great but let them back in a little bit. They made a run early in the second half, but after that, we really went to another level. It was also really nice to see different players off the bench. Sylvia had a great game and we shot great from the three-point line and our assist to turnover ratio was outstanding. We all just want to keep getting better, but this was a good start.”
Sylvia Shephard (Alta Loma, Calif.) put the Redhawks on the board first at 19:32 with a three-pointer followed by back-to-back layups by Kacie Sowell (Ventura, Calif.) to give the Redhawks an early 7-0 lead. Seattle U extended the opening 11-0 run on a trio of free throws by Sowell and a jumper by Shephard at 17:42.
Courtney Johnson first put Central Washington on the board with a jumper at 15:12 but Seattle U extended their lead to 16, 18-2, with a layup by Renee Dillard-Brown (Seattle, Wash.) at 16:01 bookended by a three-pointer and layup by Shephard.
The Wildcats added five straight points on a three by Jessica VanDyke and a layup by Ally Schmitt to come within 11, 18-7, at 14:21 but Kaylee Best (Seattle, Wash.) answered with a three for the Redhawks at 13:33 to give them a 21-7 lead.
Jasmine Parker added a jumper for CWU at 12:06 but Shephard answered with a three-pointer at 11:22 followed by a pair of free throws by Kristin Stoffel at 10:28 to give SU the 27-9 lead.
Central Washington came within single digits, 27-16, by the 8:08 mark as India Matheson drove in a layup at 9:39, Hannah Shine added a pair of free-throws at 8:29, and Erika Locker followed up with a three-pointer.
Sowell and Wilma Afunugo (Plano, Texas) added back-to-back layups to extend the Redhawk lead back out to 15, 31-16, by 5:51 but CWU came back within nine, 31-22, thanks to a three-pointer by Johnson at 5:38 that started the 5-0 scoring streak.
The Wildcats came within seven, 33-26, their closest margin of the half, after a three-pointer by Johnson at 2:13 but back-to-back three-pointers by Ashley Ward (Irvine, Calif.) and Shephard just before halftime ensured the Redhawks held on to a 10-point lead at the half, 39-29.
Seattle U opened up the second half with a free-throw by Best at 19:09 followed by a layup by Sowell and a jumper by Stoffel to lead, 44-31, at 18:19.
CWU came back within nine, 44-35, at 17:22, on layups by Amber Moser and Parker, but SU went on a 12-0 run to lead by 21, 56-35, at 15:18 with contributions by five different Redhawks.
The two teams traded baskets over the next five minutes, as the Redhawks kept a double-digit lead, despite three straight three-pointers by Locker to bring CWU within 12, 62-46, by 11:53.
Ward added a pair of free-throws and a jumper just after the 10-minute mark to put the Redhawks back up by over 20, 73-51, at 9:18.
Over the next seven minutes, Seattle U went on a 14-4 run to lead by 32, 87-55, following a jumper by Dillard-Brown, leading by as many as 34 with a minute and a half remaining.
Parker added a final layup with 43 seconds remaining, but the Redhawks came away with a 31-point win, 91-60, in the exhibition contest.
The Redhawks topped the Wildcats in all three major shooting categories, including field-goal percentage (48.5 percent to 41.1 percent), three-point field-goal percentage (54.5 percent to 38.5 percent), and free-throw percentage (68.2 percent to 66.7 percent). CWU narrowly outrebounded SU, 36-35, but Seattle U recorded 16 steals to Central Washington’s five.
Shephard led Seattle U with 29 points, while Ward (16 pts.), Sowell (13 pts), and Best (11 pts) also scored in double figures. Johnson led the Wildcats with 16 points.
Seattle U hosts Pepperdine in their regular season opener on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. As part of the evening’s festivities, the Redhawks will also celebrate their 2012-13 WAC Regular Season Championship by raising a banner over their home court at the Connolly Center.