Box Score

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - Western Washington University junior forward Hannah Stipanovich scored a game-high 21 points to lead six Vikings in double-figure scoring in a 100-54 victory over the University of Alaska Thursday evening in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

The Vikings won their fourth consecutive contest to improve to 6-1 on the season and are off to a 1-0 start in GNAC play. UAF falls to 4-4 on the season and 0-1 in league play.

"We started out quite slow, but turned it around in the second quarter and then kept going," said head coach Carmen Dolfo, who is in her 26th season guiding the WWU program. "Our team did a great job of moving the ball and finding the open player."

Stipanovich (St. Louis, MO/Metro State) was 7-for-9 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line to record her season-high point total. The junior transfer is now 41-for-43 from the free throw line this season (95.3%).

Also scoring in double-digits for the Vikings was senior guard Taylor Peacocke (Kenmore, WA/Inglemoor) with 19 points in 13 points. Peacocke entered the game as the second-leading scorer in NCAA Division II, but had her streak of six consecutive 20-point games snapped. Peacocke is still averaging 23.4 points per game.

Senior forward Kiana Gandy (Des Moines, WA/Mount Rainier) added 14 points, senior guard Jessica Valley (Lafayette, IN/Nova Southeastern) had 11 points and senior center Tia Briggs (Tacoma, WA/Wilson) and sophomore center Nikki Corbett (Camas, WA) both had 10 points. Peacocke and Stipanovich tied for the team lead with 6 rebounds each.

The Vikings limited one of the nation's top scorers, Jordan Wilson, to only 12 point. Wilson entered the game ranked 5th in NCAA Division II with 23.3 points per game. Kaillee Skjold led the Nanooks with 13 points.

Alaska held a 21-19 lead after the first quarter, but Western came alive in the second quarter out-scoring the Nanooks 24-9 to grab a 43-30 lead going into halftime. Senior guard Senior guard Aleisha Hathaway (Spokane, WA/Shadle Park) beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer to end the half extending the lead to 13 points.

The second half was all Vikings as WWU poured in 30 points in the third quarter and 27 more in the fourth quarter to reach the century mark. The 100 points scored are the most by a GNAC team this season and the first time Western has reached triple digits since a 100-51 win over Montana State Billings on Jan. 3, 2015 at Carver Gym.

Overall the Vikings were 35-for-55 from the field (63.6%) and 6-for-15 (40.0%) from three-point range.

WWU continues its Alaskan road trip facing No. 9 Alaska Anchorage (5-1, 1-0 GNAC) on Saturday at 2 pm AKT/3 pm PT.

Game Notes: Taylor Peacocke now has 1,359 career points, remaining in 9th place in the WWU record books, 8 points shy of Amanda Olsen who scored 1,367 points from 1996-2000... WWU was 24-for-26 (92.3%) from the free throw line, and is now 157-for-194 (80.9%) from the free throw line this season.