BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Western Washington University junior center Anna Schwecke recorded a 20-point, 15-rebound double-double and junior guard Lexie Bland scored a career-high 18 points to lead the Vikings to a 63-57 victory over Montana State Billings Saturday evening in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on WECU Court in Carver Gym.

The Vikings improved to 6-2 overall and are off to a 2-0 start to conference play after recording their fifth consecutive victory. Montana State Billings drops to 3-3 overall and went 0-2 on its conference-opening road trip at Simon Fraser and WWU.

Schwecke (Evergreen, CO/Clear Creek/Colorado-Colo. Springs) recorded her second straight 20-point performance, capping a week that saw her score 44 points and record 27 rebounds. She was 7-for-16 from the field vs. the Yellowjackets and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. 

Bland (Ellensburg, WA) broke her previous career-high of 15 points, shooting 6-for-11 from the field, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range. The junior guard was also 3-for-4 from the free throw line and filled up the stat sheet with a career-high 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Bland scored 12 of her 18 points in the second half.

Sophomore forward Kelsey Rogers (Bothell, WA/Lynnwood) reached double-figures with 10 points and also had 8 rebounds and a career-high 4 blocked shots.

Hannah Collins led MSUB with 19 points on 6-for-15 shooting and Vanessa Stavish added 14 points and 4 rebounds.

"We rebounded really well tonight after missing a lot of little shots. Our posts again were really solid for us and had a great opening week of conference play. Lexie (Bland) stepped up for us tonight in big way when we really needed her. She hit some big shots in crucial times of the game." – WWU head coach Carmen Dolfo.

WWU held a 29-23 lead at the half, but MSUB used a 17-4 run in the third quarter to take a 5-point lead at 40-35 with 2:52 remaining in the quarter. Kelsey Rogers hit back-to-back baskets to end the third quarter and open the fourth quarter to give the Vikings a 43-42 lead, but the Yellowjackets hung tough and grabbed a one-point lead at 52-52 on a pair of Collins free throws with 3:27 remaining. Bland responded with a key 3-pointer with 3:07 remaining to give the Vikings a 54-52 lead, and WWU remained ahead the rest of the way. The Vikings ended the game on a 14-8 run to secure the victory.

WWU dominated on the boards with a 51-27 advantage in rebounds, including a 12-6 edge in offensive rebounds…for the season the Vikings are the leading rebounding team in the conference averaging 45.5 rebounds per game and have a 13.7 rebound margin.

The Vikings will take the next two weeks off for final exams and return to the court Dec. 17-18 hosting the second annual Viking Holiday Hoops Classic in Carver Gym…WWU welcomes nationally-ranked Lubbock Christian, Stanislaus State and Simon Fraser to the two-day tournament…WWU's next conference games will be the annual road trip to Alaska, facing Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 3 and Alaska Anchorage on Jan. 5.

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 1,010 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 --