ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Western Washington University women's basketball team was dealt its first Great Northwest Athletic Conference defeat of the season, falling 68-50 to No. 14 nationally-ranked Alaska Anchorage Saturday night at the Alaska Airlines Center.
The Vikings dropped to 8-4 overall and 3-1 in conference play, but have still won seven of their last nine games. The Seawolves improved to 11-1 overall and 3-1 in GNAC play. WWU, UAA, Central Washington and Seattle Pacific are all tied for 2nd in the conference standings behind undefeated Northwest Nazarene (12-0, 4-0).
Sophomore forward Kelsey Rogers (Bothell, WA/Lynnwood) led the Vikings with 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Rogers also tallied a team-high 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocked shots and 2 steals. She has led the Vikings in scoring in 8 of WWU's 12 games this season.
Freshman forward Katrina Gimmaka (Everson, WA/Nooksack Valley) added 9 points off the bench on 4-for-6 shooting. Sophomore guard Emma Duff (Tumwater, WA/Black Hills) and senior guard Bobbi Westendorf (Auburn, WA/Kentridge/Tacoma CC) each had 8 points.
The Seawolves had three players reach double-figures in scoring, led by 17 points from GNAC Preseason Player of the Year Hannah Wandersee. Safiyyah Yasin added 16 points on 5-for-12 shooting (3-for-4 3FG) and Sydni Stallworth chipped in 10 points.
The Vikings trailed by 10 points heading into the final quarter at 51-41, but went on a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 5 points at 53-48 with 8:09 remaining in the game. Freshman Mollie Olson hit a 3-pointer to cap the rally, but the Seawolves answered with a 10-0 run and out-scored the Vikings 15-2 the remainder of the way for the 18-point victory.
The Vikings return home next week hosting Concordia on Thursday (Jan. 10) and Western Oregon on Saturday (Jan. 12) on WECU Court in Carver Gym, with both games featuring a 7 pm tip-off. 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 Box Score
|
FG
|
3-Pt
|
FT
|
Reb
|
|
|
##
|
Player
|
|
fgm-fga
|
fgm-fga
|
ftm-fta
|
off-def
|
tot
|
pf
|
tp
|
a
|
to
|
blk
|
stl
|
min
|
|
15
|
Rogers,Kelsey
|
f
|
6-10
|
0-0
|
3-4
|
0-7
|
7
|
1
|
15
|
2
|
4
|
2
|
2
|
30
|
|
44
|
Schwecke,Anna
|
c
|
1-6
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
2-3
|
5
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
14
|
|
3
|
Bland,Lexie
|
g
|
2-3
|
1-2
|
0-0
|
0-2
|
2
|
3
|
5
|
2
|
5
|
0
|
0
|
31
|
|
12
|
Duff,Emma
|
g
|
3-6
|
1-3
|
1-1
|
0-3
|
3
|
4
|
8
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
18
|
|
22
|
Castaneda,Gracie
|
g
|
0-4
|
0-1
|
0-0
|
1-3
|
4
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
20
|
|
1
|
Dykstra,Avery
|
-
|
0-3
|
0-1
|
0-0
|
0-1
|
1
|
3
|
0
|
5
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
22
|
|
13
|
Fierke,Monique
|
-
|
0-1
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
|
20
|
Gimmaka,Katrina
|
-
|
4-6
|
0-0
|
1-1
|
1-1
|
2
|
2
|
9
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
13
|
|
32
|
Olson,Mollie
|
-
|
1-3
|
1-3
|
0-0
|
0-3
|
3
|
4
|
3
|
5
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
26
|
|
33
|
Westendorf,Bobbi
|
-
|
3-4
|
1-1
|
1-3
|
1-2
|
3
|
2
|
8
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
23
|
|
Team Totals……………..
|
-
|
20-46
|
4-11
|
6-9
|
5-28
|
33
|
21
|
50
|
18
|
24
|
9
|
4
|
200
|
|
WWU Leader
|
43.5%
|
36.4%
|
66.7%
|
|
|
Score by Quarter
|
1st
|
2nd
|
3rd
|
4th
|
Total
|
|
Western Washington (8-4, 3-1)
|
11
|
16
|
14
|
9
|
50
|
|
Alaska Anchorage (11-1, 3-1)
|
17
|
20
|
14
|
17
|
68
|
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 1,012 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 --
