BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The Western Washington University women’s basketball team had all five starters score in double figures and turned in a dominating fourth quarter performance to open Great Northwest Athletic Conference play with a 74-60 victory over Simon Fraser University Tuesday night on WECU Court at Carver Gym.
WWU pulled away from a 51-51 tie early in the fourth quarter by going on a 12-2 run to take a 63-53 lead and never looked back, improving to 4-3 on the season and 1-0 in GNAC play. WWU out-scored the Clan 25-12 in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
Redshirt freshman guard Gracie Castaneda (Arlington, WA) scored a career-high 18 points on 5-for-10 shooting and sophomore center Anna Schwecke (Evergreen, CO/Colorado-Colorado Springs) recorded her first career double-double with a career-high 17 rebounds and 11 points, adding 2 blocked shots and a career-high tying 2 steals. Schwecke’s rebound total is tied for the 3rd-most rebounds in a game by a WWU player in the GNAC era (since 2001-02) and helped the Vikings to a 47-18 rebounding advantage on Tuesday.
The backcourt combination of sophomore guards Lexie Bland (Ellensburg, WA) and Dani Iwami (Seal Beach CA/Hawai’i Pacific) combined for 28 points and was 5-for-11 from 3-point range to help lift the Vikings to their second consecutive victory. Bland tied her career high with 15 points on 4-for-7 from the field (2-4 3-pointers) and Iwami had 13 points on 5-for-13 shooting (3-7 3-pointers).
Senior forward Hannah Stipanovich (St. Louis, MO/Metro State) rounded out the double-digit scorers with 14 points on 6-for-9 from the floor to go along with 9 rebounds and a career-high 5 assists.
“I am very proud of our team. With each game we are getting better and playing extremely hard,” said 27th-year head coach Carmen Dolfo. “I feel like we had answers when SFU came back at us, and we didn’t panic. We were competitive and had a lot of poise tonight. I am pleased with how we are balanced and moving the ball around.”
Overall the Vikings shot 47.3% from the field (26-for-55) and were 8-for-18 (44.4%) from 3-point range. The Vikings were 14-for-19 (73.5%) at the free throw line.
SFU dropped to 4-3 on the season and 0-1 in GNAC play after being held to a 34.6% from the field on 18-for-52 shooting. WWU’s defense limited the Clan to only five 3-pointers, just a game after SFU set the GNAC single-game record with 18 3-pointers last Wednesday vs. Academy of Art. Four SFU players scored in double-digits, led by 15 points from forward Tayla Jackson and the team was 19-for-21 (90.5%) at the free throw line.
The Vikings came out with a solid first quarter, opening up a 10-point lead at 23-13 over SFU. WWU led by as many as 16 points at 21-5 and 23-7, but SFU closed out the quarter on a 6-0 run. Castaneda led all players with 10 points in the opening frame, going 3-for-5 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers, and Bland had 6 points on 2-for-3 shooting.
SFU continued the run opening the second quarter with a 5-0 spurt, pulling to within five points at 23-18, before Stipanovich ended the 11-0 run with a layup at the 8:40 mark. A pair of 3-pointers by Iwami and Bland extended WWU’s lead to 13 points at 33-20 with 3:41 left in the period, but SFU again had a strong close to the quarter going on a 10-3 run to pull to within 6 points at 36-30 at the halftime break. Stipanovich led the Vikings with 4 points on 2-for-3 shooting, while Schwecke, Bland and Iwami each had 3 points apiece. Schwecke reached double-digits in rebounds in the first 20 minutes of action with 5 rebounds in each quarter.
WWU opened the third quarter on a 4-0 run on consecutive layups by Iwami and Castaneda, growing the lead to 10 points at 40-30. SFU answered with a 12-2 run to pull even at 42-42 with 3:25 remaining in the quarter. Castaneda broke an 8-0 SFU run with a 3-pointer to give the Vikings a 45-42 lead, but SFU went on a 6-0 spurt to lead 48-45. WWU reclaimed the advantage at 49-48 on a last-second rebound and putback by Stipanovich to close out the quarter.
Iwami hit her second 3-pointer of the game at the 9-minute mark in the fourth quarter to break a 51-51 tie, and then hit another with 6:37 remaining in the game to extend the lead to 57-53 and force a SFU timeout. Back-to-back short jumpers by Schwecke and freshman guard Emma Duff (Tumwater, WA/Black Hills) extended the run to 7-0, turning a one-point lead into a 61-53 advantage, and then a pair of made free throws from a SFU technical took the lead to double digits at 63-53. Guard Tia Tsang hit a 3-pointer with 3:22 remaining to pull SFU within 7 points at 65-58, but the Vikings answered with a 9-2 run to seal the 74-60 victory.
The Vikings (4-3, 1-0 GNAC) face a quick turnaround traveling to play Montana State Billings on Thursday at 7 pm MT/6 pm PT. Fans can follow the game with a live webcast from Billings via WWUVikings.com/Live.
Game Notes: Tuesday night’s win was No. 997 all-time in program history, just 3 wins shy of 1,000…Vikings won their third straight GNAC opener…Gracie Castaneda has set a career high in points scored during each of the last two games in her redshirt freshman season…Anna Schwecke’s career-high 17 rebounds were tied for 3rd-most in a game by a WWU player in GNAC era and most since Taylor Peacocke had 17 rebounds on Nov. 21, 2014 against Azusa Pacific…Lexie Bland tied her career high with 15 points…Hannah Stipanovich had a career-high 5 assists…Vikings had five players in double figures scoring for the second time during the season (previously against Fresno Pacific in season opener).
Courtesy of WWU Athletics
