PORTLAND, Ore. – The grueling test that is a Great Northwest Athletic Conference basketball schedule requires a short memory.
 
That was certainly the case for the Western Washington women's basketball team last week, which found itself facing two critical matchups in the thick of the race towards the 2025-26 GNAC title. The Vikings forgot all about their road trip to Ellensburg and Nampa in early January when they fell 69-62 to Northwest Nazarene and 75-58 to Central Washington.
 
WWU convincingly flipped the script last week, dominating both opponents in the rematches in Carver Gym. On Thursday it was a 66-44 runaway win over No. 12 Central Washington and on Saturday it was an 82-54 blowout of Northwest Nazarene as the Vikings moved within one game of the GNAC-leading Wildcats.
 
"Both teams handled us well when we went there earlier in the season," said WWU head coach Carmen Dolfo, whose squad was named the Athletic Solutions GNAC Team of the Week on Monday. "Our team has been focusing on defense, and we did a much better job of that in both games this weekend. We did better in sticking to our game plan, and offensively we are getting a little more balance in our scoring. It's not just one or two people, and that has helped."
 
WWU improved to 18-6 overall and is now 10-3 in conference play, having gone 7-3 in its last 10 games. With five games to go in the regular season, WWU is one game out of the top spot in the standings and is two wins away from locking up a GNAC Championships tournament berth.
 
The Vikings' emphasis on defense was well apparent in their win over the Wildcats, as they held CWU to season-lows of 44 points scored, 29.2% shooting (14-for-48) and 7.1% (1-for-14) from 3-point range. The Vikings enjoyed a 37-30 advantage in rebounding, fueled by Olivia Hodges' team-high nine boards. Libby Stump finished with 13 points, six assists and six rebounds, and Joy Haltom had a team-high 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting.
 
"We were a lot more focused and played better team defense," Dolfo said, compared to CWU shooting 55.6% (25-for-45) and 50.0% (6-for-12) from three in the loss on Jan. 10. "We were able to control the boards better, and we did a better job of sharing the ball."
 
The Vikings then shot 52.5% (31-for-59) in Saturday's win and once again won the battle on the glass 36-33. Hodges hauled in a 14-rebound, 12-point double-double while Demi Dykstra and Aspen Garrison tied for the team high with 16 points apiece. Stump also finished with a double-double, dishing out 11 assists to go along with a dozen points.
 
"Five of our starters were in double figures, and that makes it harder to guard us," Dolfo said. "Libby did an outstanding job of finding the open person, and it was a better team effort."
 
The big rebounding numbers are nothing new for Hodges, who has flourished in her first season with the Vikings. The Cal State LA transfer ranks second in all of Division II women's basketball with 12.2 rebounds per game, and she ranks fourth in the conference in scoring at 16.3 points per game.
 
"Her ability to rebound is amazing to me," said Dolfo. "She can fly from one side to the other, and she does an amazing job. She is a good scorer, has some great moves inside and she plays great defense too."
 
In addition to leading the team with 4.17 assists per game, Stump ranks second on the squad with 14.2 points per game. She is among four Vikings to have started all 24 contests this season, and her 11 helpers in the win over NNU marked her second time this season reaching double figures.
 
"Libby has a scoring mentality, but she has been working on creating for others," Dolfo said. "That has opened up so much for us. She makes great passes and has the ability to see the court really well. She played really great defense this weekend."
 
Now in her third season at WWU, Dykstra has been a major contributor and has also started every game. She ranks third on the team with 11.0 points per game, while adding 3.5 rebounds and ranking second with 2.5 assists per game.
 
"Demi does it all on both ends of the court," said Dolfo. "She has been stepping up with more scoring responsibility, and that has helped us. We need her to score."
 
Dolfo's daughter Garrison is the other Viking to be a regular in the starting lineup, and she stands second on the team with 4.8 rebounds per game. Garrison is also chipping in 9.1 points per game offensively and has reached double digits in each of the Vikings' last three contests.
 
"Aspen has done a good job for us, both on the defensive end and stepping up to balance out our scoring," Dolfo said. "She did a really good job of that last week, and she creates a big presence inside for us defensively."
 
Haltom's 15 points in the win over CWU marked her second-highest scoring output of the season as she has made the most of her newly-accelerated role in the starting lineup. Over the last three games, Haltom has gone 9-for-13 (69.2%) from the perimeter.
 
"Joy has been hitting outside for us," said Dolfo. "We are a bit of a pound it inside, driving team, but she has opened up the outside for us and we are confident in her shooting."
 
The Vikings are next in action on Thursday night with an 8 p.m. (Pacific) tipoff against Alaska Anchorage (13-8, 5-7 GNAC) at the Alaska Airlines Center. WWU then travels to Fairbanks, Alaska to face the Alaska Nanooks (0-20, 0-12) with a 4 p.m. (Pacific) tipoff set for Saturday.
 
"Alaska Anchorage is a great team and they shoot the ball so well," said Dolfo. "It's tough to play up there, and we are going to be focused for that one this week. Fairbanks played Anchorage tight on Saturday, and they are coming up as well. We know it takes being focused on one game at a time right now. We are not looking ahead and are just focused on what's next for us."
 
Dolfo is the winningest coach in GNAC history, holding a record of 495-185 (.728) overall and 308-101 (.753) in conference play since the league was formed in 2001-02. In total since beginning at WWU in 1991, she is 727-279 (.723) and took the Vikings to three NCAA Elite Eights including the 2022 Division II national title match. The Vikings six GNAC regular-season titles under Dolfo are second-most among any GNAC program, with the team's most recent crown coming in 2022-23. WWU also has the second-most GNAC Championships trophies among women's basketball programs with four, the most recent of which came in 2024.
 
GNAC Team of the Week presented by Athletic Solutions
Athletic Solutions was introduced as an official partner of the GNAC on Dec. 8, 2025 and it will sponsor the GNAC Team of the Week award. Athletic Solutions is a national leader in NIL fan engagement and e-commerce technology, collaborating with colleges and universities to bring NIL Locker Rooms to life. Its platform simplifies NIL opportunities, providing student-athletes with the tools and exposure needed to thrive in the evolving landscape of college athletics.