Box Score

BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Western Washington University Vikings were held to a season-low 47 points in a 53-47 setback at Montana State Billings Thursday night in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women's basketball game at Alterowitz Gymnasium.

Western played without leading scorer and starting point guard Taylor Peacocke (15.6 points per game) due to concussion-like symptoms.

Junior forward Kiana Gandy (Des Moines, WA/Mount Rainier) led the Vikings with 15 points on 4-for-10 shooting and added 5 rebounds. Senior center Kayla Bernsen (Moses Lake, WA) added 10 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks and junior forward Tia Briggs (Tacoma, WA/Wilson) contributed 10 points (5-for-7 from the field) and a team-high 8 rebounds.

The Vikings were dealt only their third loss in the last 14 games to fall to 12-6 overall and 8-2 in GNAC play. MSUB improves to 12-5 overall and jumps ahead of WWU with an 8-1 record in GNAC play.

WWU led by as many as 9 points early in the first half jumping out to a 13-4 lead, but the Yellowjackets fought back to gain the halftime lead at 26-24.

The Yellowjackets opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run to extend their lead to 12 points early in the third quarter at 38-26. Western battled back and pulled ahead 42-41 on the first possession of the fourth quarter, but couldn't pull ahead late. Leading by one 48-47 at the 3:59 mark, MSUB did not allow the Vikings to score the rest of the way en route to the 53-47 victory. Monica Grimsrud put the game away with a 3-pointer with 24-seconds remaining.

Billings was led by a game-high 21 points from Alisha Breen, who was 8-for-18 from the field in 39 minutes. Grimsrud added 14 points (3-for-9 3-pointers) in the victory.

The Vikings (12-6, 8-2 GNAC) return to Bellingham for a pair of games next week vs. Western Oregon (Thursday, 5:15 pm, Whatcom Pavilion) and Concordia (Saturday, 7 pm, Whatcom Pavilion).