ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The No. 11/12 Western Washington University women's basketball team completed an Alaska sweep Saturday, holding off conference rival Alaska Anchorage 62-52 to record a 10-point victory Saturday evening at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The Vikings remained in first place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference standings with a 10-1 league mark and 16-2 overall. WWU won its fifth consecutive games over UAA dating back to last season. The Seawolves dropped to 13-7 overall and 5-6 in GNAC play. 

WWU got off to a quick start leading UAA 22-13 following the first quarter and 33-23 at the half. The Seawolves out-scored the Vikings 17-15 in the third quarter and pulled to within four points early in the fourth quarter at 48-44. But the Vikings held off the comeback attempt and pulled away going on an 8-2 run to help put the game away. 

The Vikings led nearly wire-to-wire holding an advantage for 38:15 of the 40-minute contest.

Junior forward Brooke Walling led all players with 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting, also adding six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a pair of blocked shots. Junior guard Stephanie Peterson provided a first-half spark for the Vikings finishing with nine points and six rebounds. Senior post Carley Zaragoza had 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting and was 4-for-5 from the free throw line.

The Seawolves were led by 11 points each from Nicole Pinckney and Jazzpher Evans, and 10 points by Jahnna Hajdukovich.

WWU held a 34-26 advantage in rebounds and limited UAA to just 33.3-percent shooting (17-for-51). 

WWU entered the weekend ranked No. 11 (WBCA Coaches) and No. 12 (D2SIDA Media) in the national polls, and No. 2 in the D2SIDA West Region Poll. The Vikings return home to play five of the final seven regular-season games on WECU Court in Carver Gym, beginning by hosting Northwest Nazarene and Central Washington next week.

WWU (16-2, 10-1 GNAC) concluded its four-game road trip with a 3-1 record and return home to Carver Gym for five of the last seven regular-season games beginning by hosting Northwest Nazarene (Thursday) and Central Washington (Saturday) in 7 pm games on WECU Court.

Here is a look at the statistical comparison between WWU and UAA:

Here is a look at the Vikings record breakdown for the 2022-23 season:

The Vikings swept the regular-season series over UAA, also earning a 104-51 victory in Caver Gym on December 29. The Vikings have now won five consecutive games against the Seawolves, the longest winning streak for WWU in the head-to-head series since also winning five straight from Feb. 19, 2004-Feb. 9, 2006. Western leads the all-time series 35-28 (according to WWU records) with a 15-13 advantage in games played in Alaska. WWU has won the last two games in the Alaska Airlines Center after dropping seven straight vs. UAA on its home court.

Here is an updated look at the GNAC standings, complete with Saturday's results from around the conference:

Here is a game-by-game look at the 2022-23 season following the Vikings 10-point win at UAA:

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 52-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 659, winning percentage and 20-win seasons. The Vikings have reached the NCAA II Tournament in 18 of 23 possible seasons at the Division II level with three trips to the Elite Eight (including 2022) and played in the 2022 national championship game. The program has 1,091 all-time wins in the 52-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.