BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University women's basketball team played a strong second half, but a blistering first-half shooting performance by No. 11 nationally-ranked Alaska Anchorage proved to be too much in a 74-55 UAA victory Thursday night in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action on WECU Court in Carver Gym.

The Vikings played even with the Seawolves in the second half, with each team scoring 32 points. WWU shot 54.2% (13-for-24) in the final 20 minutes of the contest, compared to 38.1% (8-for-21) in the first two quarters. Anchorage shot 56.7% (17-for-30) and were 6-for-10 from 3-point range in the first half while building a 42-23 halftime lead.

The Seawolves won their 11^th consecutive game to improve to 18-1 overall and remain in a first-place tie with Northwest Nazarene at 10-1 in GNAC play. The Vikings dropped their third consecutive game, and sixth of the last eight, to fall to 10-9 overall and 5-6 in conference play. 

Junior center Anna Schwecke (Evergreen, CO/Clear Creek/Colorado-Colorado Springs) led four Vikings in double-figure scoring with 12 points and added a game-high 8 rebounds. Sophomore forward Kelsey Rogers (Bothell, WA/Lynnwood) added 11 points on 4-for-11 shooting, and sophomore guard Emma Duff (Tumwater, WA/Black Hills) scored 10 points (8 in the second half). Freshman forward Katrina Gimmaka (Everson, WA/Nooksack Valley) continued her solid play of late with 10 points and 6 rebounds, scoring in double digits for the second straight game.

The Seawolves had all five of their starters reach double figures in scoring, led by a game-high 15 points from GNAC Preseason Player of the Year Hannah Wandersee.

WWU out-scored the Seawolves 17-16 in the third quarter while shooting 61.5% (8-for-13). Emma Duff led the Vikings with 5 points and added 4 rebounds in the quarter. The Vikings also played the nationally-ranked Seawolves tight in the final 10 minutes with UAA edging WWU 17-16 in the fourth quarter. Overall the Vikings shot 54.2% in the second half (13-for-24), with Emma Duff scoring 8 of her 10 points. The Vikings cut the lead to 12 points at 66-54 with 2:29 remaining, but UAA finished with a 8-1 run to finish the 19-point victory.

UAA grew their 7-point lead after the first quarter into a 19-point halftime lead out-scoring the Vikings 23-11 in the second quarter. The Seawolves were 9-for-13 from the floor, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range to grow their lead. WWU was limited to 3-for-8 shooting in the quarter, and were led by 3 points from Lexie Bland. Overall WWU was 8-for-21 (38.1%) from the field in the first half, with UAA hitting on 17-for-30 from the field (56.7%).

WWU tied the game 8-8 at the 3:20 mark on a Anna Schwecke short-range jumper, but the Seawolves went on a 9-0 run to gain some momentum late in the first quarter. UAA scored a late basket to end the first quarter with a 7-point lead at 19-12. Schwecke led the Vikings with 4 points on 2-for-3 shooting, with WWU shooting 38.5% for the quarter (5-for-13). UAA shot 47.1% in the first quarter (8-for-17) and was 2-for-5 from 3-point range. Tara Thompson led UAA with 6 points on 2-for-3 shooting, with Sala Langi adding 5 points.

The Vikings return to action on Saturday hosting Alaska Fairbanks (3-14, 0-11) at 7 pm to close out a stretch of four consecutive home games. 

The Seawolves extended their winning streak over the Vikings to 8 in a row, and have won 12 of the last 13 in the series…WWU still leads the all-time series 29-26, but UAA holds a 20-16 advantage in GNAC contests since 2001-02.

Here is a look at the updated GNAC standings through games completed on Thursday:

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 1,015 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 --