Western Washington University regained its shooting touch at just the right time, beating conference rival Alaska Anchorage, 76-64 Friday in the NCAA Division II tournament West Regional opener on the Cal State East Bay campus in Hayward, California.
No. 3 seed Western (21-5), which struggled to score throughout its conference tournament earlier this month while still managing to make the final, saw its strong regular-season form return, shooting 45% from the field and a remarkable 85% (23-for-27) from the free-throw line in beating No. 6 Alaska Anchorage (20-7) for the third time this season.
In a rematch of the March 5 Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament final, Western will next face No. 2 seed Central Washington, a 79-74 winner Friday over Northwest Nazarene, in the West Region semifinals Saturday at 5 p.m.
“The GNAC Tournament was tough,” said senior guard Emma Duff in a postgame press conference. “We had a lot to change from that tournament. We didn’t play our best. We still had some confidence that if we did what we wanted to do, and stuck to our game plan, that we could still make a run here.”
The Vikings’ conference-leading defense allowed 20 points from Seawolves star Tennae Voliva, but no other player reached double figures. Jahnna Hajdukovich, who entered the game hitting 38% of her 3-point shots, was held to six points. Sala Langi and Malie Marfil had nine points apiece.
Western, 15-3 on the road this season, had four players in double figures. Duff, just named to the NCAA Division II All-West Region team, scored 16 points. Brooke Walling added 17 with a career-high 17 rebounds and Riley Dykstra, the Lynden Christian star and this year’s conference Freshman Player of the Year, scored a team-best 18 in her best game of the postseason.
Everson’s Dykstra started the game alongside sister Avery, the redshirt junior starting point guard and Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. Avery Dykstra had eight assists, three rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal. Freshman guard Maddy Grandbois notched 11 on 4-for-5 shooting, including 3-of-4 from the 3-point line.
Western lost to Central Washington, 57-46, in the conference final Saturday after splitting regular-season games. Northwest Nazarene was the only conference team to beat Western twice this season, both wins coming in overtime.
The West Region final is Monday. That winner, along with seven others from regional tournaments held around the country, advance to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight set for March 21-25 in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Vikings, ranked No. 25 nationally in the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association poll going into the NCAA Tournament, is one of four teams ranked in the top 25 in the regional. Three are all in the West Region bracket’s upper half: No. 9 Azusa Pacific, No. 15 Cal State East Bay, No. 20 Cal State San Marcos.
Western led throughout on Friday, trailing only after the game’s first basket. Riley Dykstra’s medium-range jumper put Western ahead by 13, 39-26, for its biggest lead of the game with less than a minute remaining in the half.
Western turned back comeback attempts by the Seawolves with timely 3-pointers in the third quarter. After Rachel Ingram’s drive closed to 48-38, freshman Maddy Grandbois’s three pushed Western’s lead to 53-38 with a little more than 3:15 left. Carley Zaragoza, Monique Fierke and Grandbois each hit threes in the final two minutes to help Western to a 15-point margin, 62-47, at the end of the third quarter. Western was 7-of-17 (41.2%) from the 3-point line in the game.
When the Vikings weren’t scoring from outside, they found Walling inside with penetrating passes that kept the Seawolves guessing. Alaska Anchorage’s full-court press didn’t stop the momentum, especially with Western’s deadly shooting from the free-throw line.
The Seawolves closed to within 10 with 3:01 left, but Riley Dykstra’s two free throws made it 71-59. Her slick pass inside led to a Walling layup with 2:08 left for 73-59.
The NCAA regional is being held for the first time in two years due to COVID-19. Western and Alaska Anchorage were scheduled to play in the 2020 regional in Hawaii before the game was abruptly called and both teams returned home.
The Vikings led after the first half, 39-27, expanding a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter with productive play inside from Walling (12 points) and outside from Riley Dykstra, who had 12 points at halftime. Duff led the way with 13.
Western was 14-for-14 from the free-throw line and shot 50 percent (11 of 22) from the field in the first half.
Guard Mollie Olson entered the game with a few seconds left in the first quarter, which ended with Western up 17-12 after leading following its second basket. It was the first action Olson, out with an injured knee, had seen since missing the conference championship game March 5.
A free webcast of Saturday’s WWU game can be seen on the CCAA Network. Check wwuvikings.com/sports/womens-basketball.
