BURNABY, BC – When Anna Schwecke crosses the border to play Simon Fraser, she has one thing on her mind, a 20-point performance.

WWU's junior center scored 24 points and added 12 rebounds to lead the Western Washington University women's basketball team to a 70-62 road victory over Simon Fraser University on Tuesday evening in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference opener for both teams in West Gym.

With the 8-point victory the Vikings improved to 5-2 on the season (1-0 GNAC) and extended their winning streak to four consecutive games.

Schwecke (Evergreen, CO/Clear Creek/Colorado-Colorado Springs) was 11-for-16 shooting from the field recording the second-most points in a game in her two-year WWU career. In her only other trip to West Gym at the end of last season, Schwecke recorded a career-high 28 points on 13-for-17 shooting.

Sophomore forward Kelsey Rogers (Bothell, WA/Lynnwood) added 16 points on 7-for-13 shooting, as WWU's post play outscored the Clan 40-24 in the paint.

Sophomore guard Gracie Castaneda (Arlington, WA) scored all 7 of her points in a key stretch in the fourth quarter and junior point guard Lexie Bland (Ellensburg, WA) added 8 points.

In addition to dominating the inside game, WWU out-rebounded SFU 45-31, including a 14-6 edge in offensive boards.

SFU (4-2, 0-1 GNAC) was led by 16 points from senior Sophie Swant and 14 points from sophomore guard Jessica Jones.

After trailing by one point 33-32 at the half, the Vikings had another solid third-quarter performance to enter the final 10 minutes of play with a 48-45 lead. After SFU cut the lead to one point with a quick basket, the Vikings went on a game-defining 9-0 run that was fueled by five consecutive points from Castaneda. Like they did all game, SFU hung tough and rattled off a 7-0 run to pull to within 3 points at 57-54 just under six minutes remaining in the game. But the Vikings continued to feed the ball to the low post and had some key offensive rebounds in a 8-0 run to grow the lead to a game-high 12 points at 69-57. Castaneda scored all 7 of her points in the game in the final quarter, while Schwecke had 6 of her game-high 24 points.

The Vikings opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run to build a 9-point lead at 44-35. Schwecke led the way with 8 straight points during the stretch. SFU answered with a 8-0 run to pull to within one point at 44-43, but WWU finished strong with back-to-back baskets by Rogers to give the Vikings a 48-45 lead heading into the final quarter.

A back-and-forth second quarter ended with SFU holding a one-point 33-32 lead at the half. Schwecke scored 8 points and grabbed 5 rebound in the quarter to lead the Vikings. Western trailed 26-21 after SFU went on a 6-2 run, but the Vikings answered with a 6-0 run that was capped by a steal and layup by freshman guardAvery Dykstra (Lynden, WA/Lynden Christian) to give WWU the 27-26 lead with 4:19 left in the quarter. Bland hit a running jump shot with 52 seconds left in the quarter to tie the game 31-31, but SFU went right back on top with a fastbreak layup by Ozioma Nwabuko with six seconds remaining. Bland was fouled and hit one of her two free throws to bring the game to 33-32 heading into the half.

After a slow start by both teams, the Vikings jumped out to an 8-4 lead with Rogers scoring each of the first 8 points. WWU lead 11-8 with 3:07 remaining in the quarter following a 3-pointer by Dykstra, but SFU's Jessica Jones connected on three consecutive 3-pointers to help lift the Clan to a 18-15 first-quarter advantage. Schwecke hit a last-second layup to cut the deficit to 3 points after the first quarter.

WWU's one-two post combination of junior Anna Schwecke and sophomore Kelsey Rogers combined to score well over 50-percent of the Vikings points Tuesday night, combining for 40 points and 17 rebounds…Rogers and Schwecke have each scored in double-digits in 5 of WWU's 7 games…Rogers leads the team averaging 15.43 points per game, with Schwecke third on the team averaging 13.14 points/game.

WWU improved to 50-36 all-time vs. Simon Fraser, winning 7 of the last 8 meetings.

The Vikings host Montana State Billings on Saturday in Carver Gym at 7 pm to complete the opening week of conference play.

WWU will serve as the host for the 2019 GNAC Championships, with the top six teams in both the men's and women's conference standings at the end of the season qualifying for the tournament that will be held March 7-9 on WECU Court in Carver Gym. 

If you can't make it to Carver Gym to watch the home games in person, you can tune in to VikingsTV to catch all the action…all GNAC matches, home and road, will stream live and feature live stats at GNAC.tv, with home games also streamed live on YouTube…in addition to being available online, all conference matches are available via the GNAC channel on Roku, Apple TV, Android TV and Amazon Fire TV…live links can be accessed through WWUVikings.com/Live.

More information on the 2018-19 season, including a details schedule, roster and quick facts can be found online at WWUVikings.com/WBB and via social media on Twitter (@WWUBasketball), Instagram (@wwu.basketball) and Facebook (@WWUwomensbball).

One of the premier basketball programs in NCAA Division II, recording a 20-win season in seven of the last nine seasons, and 34 times in the 47-year history of the program. WWU has 20 seasons of 20 or more wins under head coach Carmen Dolfo, who is the winningest coach of any sport at WWU and ranks among Division II active and all-time coaching leaders in wins, win percentage and 20-win seasons. The Vikings have reached the NCAA II Tournament in 16 of 20 seasons at the Division II level with two trips to the Final Four. The program has 1,009 all-time wins in the 47-year history of the program, and according to available records, is the 15th women's college basketball team across all divisions and levels to reach the milestone.

-- @WWUWBB --