BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Led by career-high scoring performances by juniors Riley Dykstra and Aspen Garrison, the No. 21 nationally-ranked Western Washington University women's basketball team recorded a 28-point victory over Northwest Nazarene University, 88-60, Saturday evening in Great Northwest Athletic Conference action.

The Vikings raced out to a 26-6 lead after the first quarter and never trailed to improve to 8-0 on WECU Court in Carver Gym this season. With their third consecutive victory the Vikings improved to 12-3 overall and 4-1 in GNAC play.

Dykstra scored a career-high 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting while also recording four rebounds and four assists. Over the last three games the junior guard has scored 58 points to increase her season scoring average to 10.3 points per game.

Garrison tied her single-game scoring mark with 20 points on 9-for-12 shooting, also contributing six rebounds and four assists.

Senior All-American Brooke Walling recorded her GNAC-leading ninth double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, also totaling five assists, two blocked shots and a steal. Junior guard Olivia Wikstrom capped a solid week on the court nearing a second consecutive double-double with 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists. 

The Vikings led wire-to-wire, opening the game making a free throw on an administrative technical foul, and went on to score the first 10 points of the game before ending the first quarter with a 26-6 lead. WWU would lead by at least double-digits the remainder of the way finishing with the 28-point victory over the Nighthawks.

After scoring 100 points in Thursday's win over Central Washington, the Vikings offense was firing on all cylinders again shooting a season-best 62.3-percent from the field (38-for-61). WWU tallied 30 assists on the 38 made baskets, backing up a 31-assist performance vs. CWU. Western also held a sizable 43-24 advantage in rebounding.

NNU (6-7, 3-3 GNAC) was led by 18 points by Madeline Gebers on 5-for-10 shooting and nine points by Kendall Clark. The Nighthawks defense had 11 steals.

Junior forward Aspen Garrison tied her season and career collegiate single-game high with 20 points on 10-for-13 shooting. Garrison added four rebounds, four assists and blocked one shot.

The Vikings (12-3, 4-1 GNAC) returns to the road next week traveling to play GNAC games at Saint Martin's in Lacey on Thursday (Jan. 18, 5:15 pm) and continues south to take on Western Oregon on Saturday in Monmouth (Jan. 20, 2 pm). The complete season schedule, complete with links on how to watch the games, can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/WBB.

WWU extended its winning streak to three straight over NNU to improve to 35-17 overall vs. the Nighthawks. The Vikings are now 19-7 all-time in home games vs. NNU.

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

Here is an updated look at the 2023-24 GNAC Women's Basketball standings following Saturday's games:

Here is a look at the Vikings record breakdown for the 2023-24 season:

Here is a game-by-game look at the 2023-24 season following the 28-point victory over NNU:

One of the premier basketball programs in NCAA Division II, recording a 20-win season in 10 of the last 14 full seasons, and 37 times in the 52-year history of the program. WWU has 23 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 679, winning percentage and 20-win seasons. The Vikings have reached the NCAA II Tournament in 19 of 24 possible seasons at the Division II level with three trips to the Elite Eight (last in 2022) and played in the 2022 national championship game. The program has 1,111 all-time wins in the 53-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.