MONMOUTH, Ore. – The No. 21/14 nationally-ranked Western Washington University women's basketball team recorded its fifth consecutive victory defeating Western Oregon University 77-61 Saturday afternoon in Great Northwest Athletic Conference play.

WWU built an early 16-5 lead in the first quarter and led nearly wire-to-wire in the 16-point victory over WOU to improve to 14-3 overall and remain in second place in the conference at 6-1.

Holding a 20-5 lead early in the second quarter, WOU closed the deficit to four points at 27-23 behind a 20-point quarter from Cali McClave, but the Vikings closed out the half on an 11-2 run to take a 38-25 lead at the break. WWU out-scored WOU 28-20 in the third quarter en route to the victory.

Senior All-American forward Brooke Walling led the Vikings with 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting and contributed seven rebounds, five assists and one blocked shot. Junior forward Aspen Garrison added 15 points and five rebounds and junior guard Riley Dykstra had 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Junior guard Olivia Wikstrom continued her solid play of late with eight points and eight rebounds, but had her string of consecutive free throws made snapped after opening the season 22-for-22 from the charity stripe.

WWU's balanced offense featured nine players scoring points, with seven players with at least five points. The Vikings combined to shoot 51.7-percent from the field (30-for-58) and continued their hot three-point shooting going 9-for-15 (60.0%) from beyond the arc. WWU also held a sizeable 41-26 advantage in rebounding.

The Wolves (9-9, 2-5 GNAC) were led by a game-high 26 points by Cali McClave, who went 11-for-21 from the field.

The Vikings out-scored the Wolves 39-36 in the second half to cruise to the victory, including a 28-20 score line in the third quarter. Freshman Demi Dykstra led WWU with nine points, all coming in the third quarter and classmate KK Bass added seven points on a pair of three points and a free throw. Garrison had eight of her 15 points in the second half. The Wolves had a strong finish out-scoring the Vikings 16-11 in the final quarter.

The Vikings opened the second quarter extending its run to 13-0 to build a 20-5 lead, but WOU answered with Cali McClave scoring 18 consecutive points for Wolves to cut WWU's lead to four points at 27-23. WWU answered with three consecutive three pointers by Brooke Walling, Riley Dykstra and Steph Peterson to extend the lead back to 13 points at 36-23 and carried a 38-25 lead into the half. McClave scored all 20 of the Wolves points in the second quarter. The Vikings shot 53.8-percent from the field in the half (14-for-26) and were 5-for-9 from three-point range. Walling led WWU with 13 first-half points on 5-for-9 shooting, with Aspen Garrison and Olivia Wikstrom each scoring seven points.

WWU led Western Oregon 16-5 through the first quarter of play, ending the frame on a 9-0 run to grow the lead to 11 points. Olivia Wikstrom and Aspen Garrison each had five points in the quarter as the Vikings opened the game shooting 7-for-11 from the field. WWU held an opponent to five or fewer points in the first quarter for the fourth time this season.

Senior Brooke Walling was selected as the WECU Player of the game after leading the Vikings with 17 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Walling also contributed seven rebounds, five assist, one steal and one blocked shot in 29 minutes of action. For the season Walling is averaging 16.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 63.6-percent (119-for-187).

The Vikings (14-3, 6-1 GNAC) return home next week for a pair of GNAC games on WECU Court in Carver Gym, hosting Seattle Pacific on Thursday (Jan. 25) and first-place Montana State Billings on Saturday (Jan. 27). Thursday's game vs. SPU will be the first of two WECU Night's with WECU members receiving up to four free tickets and there will be a WWU Viking bobblehead giveaway to the first 250 fans. The complete season schedule, complete with links on how to watch the games, can be viewed online at wwuvikings.com/WBB.

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

WWU won its sixth consecutive game over Western Oregon and improved to 59-11 all-time in the series vs. the Wolves. The Vikings have won 27 of the last 29 in the series dating back to the 2008-09 season.

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

Here is a game-by-game look at the 2023-24 season following the 16-point win over WOU:

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 681, 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 1,113 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.