Western Washington got off to a hot start Friday and ousted the UAA women’s basketball team from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament with a 75-60 victory.
The No. 24-ranked Vikings shot 52% from the floor compared to just 38% for UAA. Especially hot shooting in the first half pushed Western Washington to a 45-30 halftime lead that UAA couldn’t recover from.
“We came out a little flat, but what cost us was not getting the closeouts defensively on their shooters in the first half,” UAA head coach Ryan McCarthy said in a statement. “Once we recovered and got into our rhythm offensively, we just couldn’t get the stops we needed defensively.”
Junior guard Senya Rabouin scored 16 points to lead the Seawolves, but she and teammate Elaina Mack (12 points) were the only two UAA players to reach double figures.
The Seawolves had won both regular-season matchups against Western Washington but on Friday had no answer to their opponent’s outside shooting. The Vikings shot a sizzling 14 for 26 from 3-point range, accounting for 56% of the team’s scoring.
Riley Dykstra led Western Washington (22-6) with 24 points on 8 of 9 shooting from 3-point territory. Trailing by 15 at halftime, the Seawolves (19-9) played the Vikings even in the second half but weren’t able to chip away at the deficit.
[UAA men’s basketball team rallies past Northwest Nazarene to reach GNAC tourney finals]