BURNABY, B.C. – Western Washington University sophomore center Anna Schwecke scored a career-high 28 points to help lead a furious second-half comeback, but the Vikings fell just short of the victory in a 79-77 setback against Simon Fraser in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference road game Tuesday night in West Gym.
WWU trailed by 13 points at the half, 40-27, but used back-to-back 25-point quarters to pull to within one point in the final seconds of the game. SFU pulled ahead 79-77 on a free throw with 2-seconds remaining in the game, and after a WWU timeout moved the ball to its side of the court, a perfectly executed inbounds play resulted in a missed layup by junior Nikki Corbett (Camas, WA) for the game-tying attempt that caromed off the rim.
WWU dropped its second consecutive game to fall to 12-15 overall and 8-11 in GNAC play. SFU won its second straight game to improve to 13-14 overall and moved into a 6th-place tie with the Vikings with an 8-11 league record.
The Vikings close out the regular season Saturday hosting Montana State Billings at 7 pm in Carver Gym for Senior Night. The game could have must-win implications with four teams vying for the final spot in the GNAC Championships that will be held March 1-3 in Anchorage, Alaska.
Schwecke (Evergreen, CO/Colorado-Colo. Springs) tallied her career-high scoring total on 13-for-17 shooting from the floor.
Senior forward Hannah Stipanovich (St. Louis, MO/MSU Denver) recorded her second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and also added 5 steals.
Redshirt freshman guard Gracie Castaneda (Arlington, WA) also reached double-digits in scoring with 10 points, scoring 7 in the final period. Sophomore guard Dani Iwami (Seal Beach, CA/Los Alamitos/Hawai’i Pacific) inched towards her first double-double of the season with 9 points and 9 assists.
WWU shot 45.3% from the floor for the game, including 7-for-18 from 3-point range, and was 12-for-14 from 3-point range.
The Clan had four players reach double-figures in scoring, led by 19 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks by Tayla Jackson. Tayler Drynan (16 points, 4-5 3FG), Sophie Swant (15 points, 5-15 FG) and Jessica Jones (10 points, 4-9 FG) rounded out SFU’s double-digits scorers. Jones recorded a complete game adding 9 assists and 6 rebounds to her 10-point performance on 4-for-9 shooting.
The Vikings got off to a hot start building an early 9-2 lead, fueled by a 7-0 run, but ended the first quarter trailing 18-14. SFU answered WWU’s hot start with 5-0 run of their own and finished the quarter on a 16-5 run to take the four-point lead into the second quarter. Schwecke led the Vikings with 6 points and 3 rebounds, with Western shooting 38.5% from the field (5-for-13). Drynan led the Clan with 6 points, connecting on both of her 3-point attempts.
SFU opened the second half on a 13-4 run to take a 31-18 lead. WWU answered with a 7-2 run cutting the lead to 8 points at 33-25, but SFU against answered with a 7-2 run to take a 13-point lead into half at 40-27. Schwecke led the Vikings with 8 points, entering half just three points shy of her single-game career high.
Western put together a solid third quarter out-scoring the Clan 25-17 to cut the deficit to 5 points at 57-52. Sophomore guard Lexie Bland (Ellensburg, WA) hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the quarter, jump-starting a 15-2 WWU run.
The Vikings trailed by as many as 10 points in the final quarter when SFU opened the final stanza on a 7-2 run. WWU answered with three consecutive 3-pointers – two by Iwami and one by freshman guard Emma Duff (Tumwater, WA/Black Hills) – to pull the Vikings to within one point at 64-63. SFU answered with a 3-pointer of their own, to pull ahead by a four-point margin.
SFU grew its lead back up to 7 points with 1:47 remaining on a Jones layup, but the Vikings would not let down going on a 6-0 run to pull back to within one point at 78-77 after a pair of Castaneda free throws. GNAC free throw percentage leader Swant missed a pair of free throws with 24-seconds remaining to give the Vikings a chance at the go-ahead bucket. Castaneda drove through the lane, but Jackson blocked her shot to keep the game a one-point margin. Jones hit a free throw to take a 79-77 lead, setting up the last possession of the game. The WWU inbounds pass went to Schwecke, who dumped a perfect pass to a cutting Corbett who had her last-second layup bounce off the rim.
The Clan held on for the victory by shooting 72.7% from the field in the final quarter (8-for-11) and were 14-for-23 (60.7%) in the second half. Overall SFU shot 56.9% from the field for the game (29-for-51), the second-best shooting percentage by a WWU opponent this season (West Texas, 60.8%/31-for-51).
The Vikings (12-15, 8-11 GNAC) return to action hosting Montana State Billings on Saturday at 7 pm on WECU Court in Carver Gym. The game will be Senior Night for a pair of Vikings, as Hannah Stipanovich and Maia Barnett will be honored prior to the game.
Game Notes: WWU is tied for 6th in the GNAC standings heading into the final game of the regular season Saturday vs. MSUB…the top six teams in the regular-season standings qualify for GNAC Championships…Anna Schwecke scored a career-high 28 points, bettering her previous single-game high of 17 points set at Central Washington (1/20/18)…marked Schwecke’s 10th game with double-digits in scoring this season…Hannah Stipanovich has scored in double-digits in each of her last 4 games…Dani Iwami tied her career-high with 9 assists, the third time this season she has recorded 9 assists in a game…Tuesday’s game featured 4 lead changes and 2 tie scores…SFU led for 32:54 and WWU led for 6:16…game was tied for 00:48…WWU held a 33-23 advantage in rebounds, including a 15-4 advantage in offensive rebounds.
Courtesy of WWU Athletics.
