BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University women's basketball team let a second-half lead slip away in a 70-62 loss against Concordia University Thursday evening in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on WECU Court in Carver Gym.

WWU led 52-49 heading into the final quarter, and built a 13-point lead midway through the third quarter, but was clipped down the stretch being out-scored 21-10 in the final quarter by the Cavaliers.

The Vikings dropped their second consecutive game to fall to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in GNAC play. Concordia snapped a four-game losing streak to improve to 6-7 overall and gained its first conference win of the year to move to 1-4.

Sophomore forward Kelsey Rogers (Bothell, WA/Lynnwood) led the Vikings with 22 points on 11-for-17 shooting while playing a team-high 37 minutes. She recorded her GNAC-leading fifth 20-point game of the season and increased her season scoring average to 15.7 points per game.

Sophomore guard Gracie Castaneda (Arlington, WA) also reached double-digits with 10 points, and contributed 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Junior center Anna Schwecke (Evergreen, CO/Clear Creek/Colorado-Colorado Springs) grabbed a game-high-tying 11 rebounds.

Concordia sophomore guard Olivia Vezaldenos scored a game-high 28 points on 8-for-18 shooting, including going 4-for-10 from 3-point range. She scored 12 of her 28 points in the second half. Senior guard Keesha Sarman recorded a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double and helped fuel CU's 21-point fourth quarter with 9 points.

WWU shot 42.4% from the field, connecting on 25-of-59 shots, but were 4-for-19 from 3-point range (21.1%) and 8-for-13 (61.5%) from the free throw line. The Vikings out-rebounded the Cavaliers 43-26, including a 13-4 advantage in offensive rebounds. Concordia nearly doubled the Vikings in their trips to the free throw line, going 19-for-25 from the charity stripe compared to 8-for-13 for the Vikings.

WWU was dealt just its second loss all-time to Concordia, still leading the all-time series 12-2, but Concordia has won two of the last three in the series dating back to last season.

Entering the final quarter trailing by just three points, the Cavaliers quickly tied the game at 52-52 on a 3-pointer by Keesha Sarman at the 9:35 mark. Sarman hit a free throw at the 8:56 mark to give Concordia its first lead of the game at 53-52, but WWU answered with a 5-0 run to regain the lead at 57-53. Beginning with an Erin Higbie layup at the 5:33 mark, the Cavaliers used a 10-2 run over a three-minute stretch to take a four-point lead at 63-59. The Vikings were just 2-for-8 from the floor over the final five minutes of the game while taking the eight-point defeat.

The Vikings appeared to be in control of the game taking a 13-point lead with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter. But after Kelsey Rogers hit a jumper to give WWU a 50-37 lead, the Cavaliers ended the quarter on a 12-2 run to pull to within three points.

The Cavaliers out-scored the Vikings 16-12 in the second quarter and trailed 32-28 at the half. Concordia ended the quarter on a 9-3 run over the final 3:40 of the half to pull to within four points at the break. WWU was limited to a 28.6 shooting percentage (4-for-14), while Concordia connected at 40.0 percent (6-for-15).Kelsey Rogers scored 6 of her team-high 10 first-half points in the quarter.

WWU held a 20-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, and led by as many as 13 points in the opening period. The Vikings went on a 10-0 run over a two-minute stretch to build the lead to 13 points at 16-3. The Cavaliers answered with a 9-2 run to pull to within 6 points at 18-12. Katrina Gimmaka led the way for WWU with 7 points on 3-for-3 shooting and Kelsey Rogers added 4 points on 2-for-2 shooting. WWU shot 47.1 percent (8-for-17), while holding the Cavaliers to 30.8 percent from the field (4-for-13).

The Vikings return to action on Saturday hosting Western Oregon (5-6, 3-2) with a 7 pm tip-off on WECU Court in Carver Gym. Advanced tickets can be purchased by visiting WWUVikings.com/Tickets and the Carver Gym Box Office will open one hour prior to tip-off.

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 1,013 all-time wins in the 48-year history of the program, and according to available records, is one of just 16 women's college basketball team across all divisions and levels to reach the milestone.

-- @WWUWBB --