The Western Washington University women’s basketball team fell 72-40 to the No. 20 nationally-ranked University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves on Thursday, Feb. 13, at Sam Carver Gymnasium in Bellingham, Wash. This was their second meeting of the season after losing 67-59 in their first meeting in Alaska on Jan. 18, 2025.
The Vikings struggled defensively, allowing the Seawolves to shoot 44% from the field and 58% from outside the arc. Seawolves starting center Tori Hollingshead recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“They pressured us really hard, and we weren't together enough as a team,” said Vikings senior guard Olivia Wikstrom. “We didn't combat them at the same intensity.”
The physical Anchorage defense led to 20 Viking turnovers, resulting in 25 Seawolf points. In the second quarter, the Vikings were outscored 22-1, giving the Seawolves a 35-10 lead at halftime.
“We know their physicality, we know their speed, but we just let them get to us,” Western assistant coach Stacy Turell said. “We didn't really fight back.”
At halftime, a raffle was offered to the student section, giving away sweatshirts that read "Everyone Watches Women's Sports," in honor of Women in Sports Night. Before tipoff, a homage was given to honor women in sports, paying special attention to athletes of Vikings basketball, along with other women athletes at Western.
In the third quarter, the Vikings made a valiant effort to fight back with halftime adjustments, featuring junior guard Mason Oberg’s two three-point shots from nearly NBA range. The team showed fight, and competed with the Seawolves throughout the quarter, scoring 19 points.
Oberg led the team with 10 points and five assists, and senior guard Maddy Grandbois put up 9 points, three rebounds, and two steals for the Vikings.
The Vikings continued to fight in the fourth quarter with a set of steals, but the scoring deficit was too much for the Vikings to climb out of, scoring only 11 points.
Western fell to 14-9 overall on the season, sitting fourth in the GNAC conference with a 9-5 conference record. The team will be back at WECU court this Saturday, Feb. 15, at 7:00 p.m. to take on Alaska Fairbanks Nanooks.
“One of our focuses is defense, and I think we can look at this game and see what we can do better for the next one.” Grandbois said.
The team hopes to bounce back this Saturday with Fairbanks coming into town, and they know that defense is a focus point for the upcoming game.
“The girls have to dig deep and check themselves,” said Turrell. “They need to want to come back and want to fight.”
Alaska Fairbanks is 6-15 on the season and have lost their last four games.
“We're going to move forward, bounce back and be ready for Fairbanks on Saturday,” said Wikstrom.
Beck Hanson (he/him) is a junior at WWU working towards his journalism (public relations) degree. He is a sports reporter for The Front. In his free time, he enjoys skiing at Mt. Baker. You can reach him at beckhanson.thefront@gmail.com
