AZUSA, Calif. – For the second consecutive day the Western Washington University women's basketball team went up against one of the nation's top teams, and again pushed its opponent to the limit, but came up just short in a 77-73 loss to No. 4 Azusa Pacific Saturday night in the Felix Event Center.
 
A night after falling 76-68 to No. 6 UC San Diego, the Vikings battled with the top-5 Cougars in the final game of the West Region Crossover Classic. WWU was dealt the narrow four-point loss to even its season record at 2-2. APU improved to 4-0 on the season. 
 
APU led from wire-to-wire, but was never able to pull away from the Vikings despite leading by as many as 13 points early in the 4^th quarter. WWU used a 9-2 run to close the game in the final quarter, and junior guard Emma Duff hit a 3-pointer and sank a pair of free throws to close the gap to two points with seven seconds remaining. APU's Zoe March hit a pair of free throws to seal the game with six seconds left.
 
Duff led the Vikings with a game-high-tying 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting and was 4-for-7 from beyond the arc. She added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a pair of steals. Senior center Anna Schwecke scored 13 points on 3-for-6 shooting and grabbed a team-high 7 rebounds. Junior forward Kelsey Rogers was selected to the all-tournament team after her 10-point, 6-rebound performance.
 
APU was led by 17 points each from Laura Pranger (7-for-14) and Rachel Bozlee (6-for-7 FG). Pranger grabbed 10 rebounds for the double-double. March scored 14 points while adding 5 rebounds and 5 assists. APU shot 46.6% from the field (27-for-58) while going 9-for-19 from 3-point range (47.4%) 
 
The Vikings won the rebounding battle 42-41, but were limited to 38.0% shooting (27-for-71) with 8-for-26 accuracy (30.8%) from 3-point range.
  After playing their first four games of the season on the road, the Vikings will finally make its home debut in Carver Gym next weekend hosting Western Colorado and Colorado-Colorado Springs in a pair of non-conference games on Friday and Saturday. WWU debuts on WECU Court on Friday, September 22 against Western Colorado at 7 pm.
  More information on WWU Basketball 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 11 seasons, and 34 times in the 48-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 21 seasons at the Division II level with two trips to the Final Four. The program has 1,024 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.