Western women fall to CWU in tourney title match

Playing for its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship since 2014, Western Washington’s conference-leading defense could not bail out the Vikings this time. 

A painful shooting performance, their second in three games, and record-setting rebounding from in-state rival Central Washington, doomed the Vikings. They lost 57-46, to Central in the GNAC title game Saturday night at Marcus Pavilion in Lacey.

No. 3 Central (23-7), boasting three first-team conference selections and the nation’s leading rebounder in 6-foot-3 center Samantha Bowman, won the first GNAC tournament title in team history. The Wildcats also win an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Championship tournament.

Western, the top seed, reached the title game for the eighth time, but has not won since back-to-back championships in 2013 and 2014. The Vikings are now 2-6 in GNAC title games.