Waldal and Boling-Schmidt Lead Women's Basketball in Loss to CNU

Tacoma, Wash. - Women's Basketball traveled to the University of Puget Sound to play a non-conference game against Christopher Newport University, falling to the fifth-ranked Captains 83-48.  Elyse Waldal and Daisy Boling-Schmidt each scored fourteen points to lead the Bearcats.

Christopher Newport scored the first four points of the game, but the Bearcats responded with eight straight points to take an early 8-4 lead thanks to a layup by Peyton Gardner and back-to-back three-pointers by Emma Floyd and Gio Horner.  The Captains took the lead back on a layup by Elizabeth Creed, but an Elyse Waldal three put Willamette up again at 11-10 and forced a CNU timeout with 4:19 left in the first quarter.  The Captains went on a 9-0 run coming out of the timeout to take a 19-11 and the first quarter ended with them holding a 26-14 lead. 

Another three-point shot by Waldal cut the CNU lead to ten early in the second quarter and after the Captains pulled away a bit, a long-range jumper from Emma Floyd made the score 32-21 in favor of Christopher Newport midway through the quarter.  That was as close as the Bearcats would get as CNU took a 46-27 lead into halftime.

The second half didn't get off to a very good start for Willamette as the Bearcats turned the ball over on their first four possessions and the Captain took advantage with six quick points.  A made layup by Boling-Schmidt at the 4:56 mark of the quarter made the score 56-29 in favor of Christopher Newport but would be the only points of the quarter for Willamette who trailed 62-29 heading to the fourth.  

Boling-Schmidt scored eleven or her team-high fourteen points in the final quarter as the Bearcats scored 19 points in the final ten minutes of play, but it wasn't enough as the nationally-ranked Captains closed out the game and the victory.

Boling-Schmidt also led Willamette in rebounds for the game, grabbing a total of eight.  Waldal, Gardner, and Horner all added three.  Horner dished out three assists for the Bearcats, with Kaitlin Imai next with two.

Women's Basketball will be on the road again next weekend as they travel to Whitman College to face East Texas Baptist at 5:00 pm on Friday, November 15th, and the University of La Verne at 3:00 pm on Saturday, November 16th.