BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University women's basketball team is dancing once again.
 
The Vikings received an at-large berth to the NCAA Division II Championships as the No. 3 seed in the West Region and will open championships play Friday taking on No. 6 seed Alaska Anchorage (20-6) in Hayward, California with tip-off at noon. The eight-team tournament will be played on the campus of Cal State East Bay, which earned the No. 1 seed in the West Region following a 22-2 regular season record and winning the CCAA Tournament.

The GNAC portion of the West Regional bracket features No. 2 Central Washington against No. 7 Northwest Nazarene and No. 3 Western Washington against No. 6 Alaska Anchorage. The other half of the bracket features No. 1 seed and host Cal State East Bay against No. 8 Academy of Art and No. 4 Cal State San Marcos against No. 5 Azusa Pacific.

WWU has advanced to the NCAA Championships for the 18th time in 23 possible seasons since moving to the NCAA ranks in 1998-99. The Vikings will be aiming for their third regional title (2000 & 2013) and have recorded at least one win in 10 of 16 previous trips to the regional tournament (did not play in 2020). WWU is 15-16 all-time in the NCAA Division II Championships.
 
"You never take for granted that exciting feeling when you see the team react to making the tournament…hours and hours of hard work, practices, traveling, games…and they are rewarded for that with this feeling," said 31st-year head coach Carmen Dolfo. "I have said it 100 times at least, but I am so proud of this team for overcoming all the adversity and working so hard for this moment. We've had a lot of ups and downs, but through it all we have stuck together and we look forward to going back on the road for another challenge."
 
Western punched its ticket to the NCAA Championships with a 20-5 record and won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular-season title. The Vikings advanced to the championship game of the GNAC Tournament, but fell to Central Washington 57-46 in the title game.
 
The Vikings will feel almost at home traveling to play in the West Regional Championship, taking a 14-3 record on the road this season into the tournament that starts play Friday in Pioneer Gymnasium. WWU went 2-0 vs. Alaska Anchorage during the 2021-22 season, defeating the Seawolves 53-45 in Anchorage on January 20 and 63-50 on February 19 in Bellingham.
 
Ironically, WWU and Alaska Anchorage were set to compete during the last full championship season in 2020, with the No. 2 Seawolves and No. 7 Vikings ready to tip-off in Honolulu, Hawaii before the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.
 
WWU was part of 41 at-large berths with an additional 23 automatic qualifiers making up the full field of 64 teams for the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championships. The eight, eight-team regionals will begin play across the country next Friday, with the regional champions meeting at the Elite Eight March 21-25 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in Birmingham, Alabama.
  Here is a look at the West Regional schedule for the 2022 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championships that will be held March 11-13 in Hayward, California:
 
Friday, March 11 (Quarterfinals):
#6 Alaska Anchorage (20-6) vs #3 Western Washington (20-5), 12:0 pm
#7 Northwest Nazarene (18-9) vs #2 Central Washington (23-7), 2:30 pm
#8 Academy of Art (18-10) vs #1 Cal State East Bay (22-2), 5:00 pm
#5 Azusa Pacific (24-3) vs #4 Cal State San Marcos (22-3), 7:30 pm
 
Saturday, March 12 (Semifinals):
UAA/WWU winner vs NNU/CWU winner
APU/CSUSM winner vs Art/CSUEB winner
 
Monday, March 14 (West Regional Final):
Championship Game (winner advances to Elite Eight in Birmingham, Alabama - March 21, 23 & 25)
  One of the premier basketball programs in NCAA Division II, recording a 20-win season in nine of the last 13 full seasons, and 36 times in the 51-year history of the program. WWU has 22 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 638, winning percentage and 20-win seasons. The Vikings have reached the NCAA II Tournament in 17 of 23 seasons at the Division II level with two trips to the Final Four. The program has 1,070 all-time wins in the 50-year history of the program, and according to available records, is one of less than 20 women's college basketball team across all divisions and levels to reach the 1,000-victory milestone.