Box Score | Game Book

LACEY, Wash. - The Western Washington University women's basketball team overcame a slow start to build a two-point halftime lead, but No. 1-seed and nationally-ranked No. 2 Alaska Anchorage proved to be too much in a 79-70 defeat Saturday evening in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championship game at Marcus Pavilion.

WWU led 33-31 at the half, overcoming a 13-3 start to the game for Anchorage, but UAA forged ahead of the Vikings with a 24-17 margin in the third quarter. The Seawolves put together another 13-3 run, this time pulling away from a 41-41 tie late in the third quarter to build a 10-point lead at 54-44.

No. 1-seeded Seawolves were 12-for-24 from 3-point range to record their third consecutive GNAC Championship. UAA (29-1) earned the GNAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division II Tournament and will likely host the West Regional next weekend in Anchorage. The Vikings (25-5) will find out where they land in the West Regional bracket on Sunday. They have won 19 of their last 21 games with the only losses coming to the Seawolves during the span.

GNAC Player of the Year Taylor Peacocke (Kenmore, WA/Inglemoor) led the Vikings with 22 points, breaking the GNAC single-season scoring record in the process. Simon Fraser's Erin Chambers set the record at 692 in 2015, but Peacocke broke that record late in the third quarter with a 3-pointer and went on to become the first GNAC player to record a 700-point season, which now stands at 702 points.

Senior forward Kiana Gandy (Des Moines, WA/Mount Rainier) was 6-for-11 from the field to record 15 points, moving past the 1,000-point mark in her career. She becomes the 27th member of the WWU women's 1,000-point club. Senior center Tia Briggs (Tacoma, WA/Wilson) added 14 points. Senior guard Jessica Valley (Lafayette, IN/Nova Southeastern) had a team-high 8 rebounds and 5 assists.

WWU shot 45.3% from the field overall (24-for-53), but were just 16-for-23 (69.6%) from the free throw after entering the game shooting 80.9% from the charity stipe for the season.

UAA senior Autummn Williams scored a game-high 28 points going 10-for-21 from the field, earning tournament MVP honors. Guard Kiki Robertson had 6 points, 6 assists and 2 steals for UAA, moving to within one steal of the GNAC's single-season steals record of 105.

After trailing at the half, the Seawolves offense had a big second half scoring 24 points in both the third and fourth quarters, making 15 of 30 field goals after halftime. WWU pulled to within five points at 71-66 with 1:33 remaining, but Anchorage pulled away from the free throw line on the way to the 9-point victory

Anchorage raced out to an early 13-3 lead, but the Vikings chipped away at the deficit to trail by five points at 16-11 through the first quarter. WWU pulled to within three points three times early in the second quarter - 16-13, 19-16, 21-18 - and pulled ahead 23-21 on a Gandy 3-pointer with 6:22 left in the quarter, capping a 10-2 run. The Vikings continued its defensive pressure while taking a 33-31 lead into halftime, out-scoring the Seawolves 30-18 after the slow start. Briggs (9 points), Gandy (8 points) and Peacocke (7 points) led the way for Western, who shot 42.9% from the field (12-for-18), but were just 3-for-6 from the free throw line. Williams led all players with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting.