BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University women's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a signature 71-64 victory over No. 4/5 nationally-ranked Alaska Anchorage Thursday night on WECU Court in Carver Gym.

WWU never trailed to record its first win over a top-5 ranked opponent since 2015 and snapped the Seawolves 13-game winning streak and 27-game win streak in Great Northwest Athletic Conference contests.

Coming off a big road 94-83 road win over defending GNAC co-champion Northwest Nazarene, the Vikings recorded their eighth win in the last 10 games to improve to 12-5 overall and 6-3 in conference play. UAA suffered its first GNAC loss of the season, falling to 18-2 overall and 8-1 in conference play. 

"I think our defense was really determined to control the game, and they did that tonight. We shared the ball really well, moved it around, and I am very proud of how they played together on both ends of the court," said WWU 29^th-year head coach Carmen Dolfo, who was honored prior to the game after recording her 600^th career win earlier this month. "We talked about not playing to the score and playing one possession at a time. We came into this game with nothing to lose and we didn't want to walk off the court and be upset if we played careful or cautious against such a great team. A great team effort to get this victory."

In a battle of the top two defensive teams in the conference, WWU forced 22 UAA turnovers, with 10 blocks and 10 steals paving the way. UAA's defense forced a season-high 27 turnovers for the Vikings, leading to a 23-18 advantage in points off turnovers. 

Junior guard Emma Duff led the way for the Vikings with 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting, also contributing a pair of assists, 2 blocked shots and 2 steals. Senior point guard Lexie Bland tallied a career-high 8 assists and also had 10 points and a pair of steals.

Junior forward Kelsey Rogers added 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting and tied her career high with 4 blocked shots. Sophomore guard Mollie Olson neared a double-double with 9 points and 6 assists, and also recorded 3 steals and 3 blocked shots.

Overall the Vikings shot 61.7% from the field (29-for-47), by far the best shooting performance against the Seawolves this season with the previous best being 46.6% by San Francisco State in early November. UAA was held to 38.2% shooting (21-for-55), the third-lowest mark this season and lowest in GNAC play. 

Rachel Ingram led UAA off the bench with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, connecting on 4-of-6 shots from beyond the arc. Tennae Voliva added 10 points and 5 rebounds.

WWU came out of the gates scoring the first five points of the game and built a 13-1 lead through the first four minutes of the opening quarter. After leading 17-10 through the first quarter, the Vikings pushed its lead to 15 points at 34-19 with 3:35 remaining in the half following back-to-back layups by sophomore guard Avery Dykstra. 

UAA cut the deficit to single-digits at 9 points just before the half, but a late layup by Olson pushed the halftime lead to 11 points at 42-31. 

The Vikings extended their lead back to 15 points at 64-49 following back-to-back 3-pointers byGracie Castaneda, but UAA went on a 7-0 run to pull to within 8 points at 56-64 with 5:16 remaining in the contest. A clutch 3-pointer by Bland pushed the lead back to double-digits, but UAA came back to trail by five points, 64-69, following a 7-2 run. Rogers sank a pair of free throws with 22-seconds remaining and the Vikings defense stiffened to force a final turnover to seal the seven-point victory.

The 71-64 win by the Vikings came against the No. 4 (D2SIDA Media Poll) and No. 5 (WBCA) nationally-ranked Seawolves. It was WWU's first win over a top five team since defeating No. 3 UAA 71-62 on Dec. 5, 2015 at Whatcom Pavilion.

WWU raced out to a 9-1 lead early in the first quarter, and never turned back building the advantage to as many as 15 points, the largest deficit UAA has faced all season. The Vikings combined to shoot 66.7% in the first 20 minutes of action (20-for-30), while holding the Seawolves to 36.7% shooting (11-for-30). WWU's defensive pressure led to 9 UAA turnovers, with 8 steals and 8 blocks leading the charge.

Emma Duff led all players with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting and Kelsey Rogers contributed 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Tennae Voliva and Rachel Ingram each had 6 points to lead UAA.

The Vikings (12-5, 6-3 GNAC) remain at home to host Alaska Fairbanks (6-12, 1-8 GNAC) on Saturday night in Carver Gym, with tip-off at 7 pm.

Thursday's 71-64 win over UAA snapped a 8-game losing streak against the Seawolves. WWU now leads the all-time series 30-26. The two teams will meet in Anchorage on February 22.

Here is a look at the updated Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings through games played on Thursday. WWU remains alone in 4^th place in the GNAC standings with a 6-3 league mark:

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 with 602, 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 1,034 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.