WWU women’s basketball earns win over Concordia

The Western Washington University Vikings closed out 2015 with a 63-43 victory over Concordia on Thursday, Dec. 31, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s basketball game at Cavalier Gymnasium.

With their sixth win in the last seven games, WWU improved to 7-4 overall and a perfect 3-0 in GNAC play. The Vikings are currently tied with Seattle Pacific with matching 3-0 records in conference play. Concordia drops to 3-8 overall and 1-2 in GNAC play.

Junior guard Taylor Peacocke led the Vikings with an all-around effort scoring 18 points (7-for-13 shooting) with 6 assists, five rebounds and two steals. Peacocke scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half, hitting on 6 of her 7 shots from the field.

Also scoring in double digits were junior guard Aleisha Hathaway with 12 points and junior forward Kiana Gandy with 11 points. Senior center Kayla Bernsen added nine points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

Western recorded a season-high 11 blocked shots, led by five from freshman forward Nikki Corbett. The 11 blocks are the most by Western since a 12-block performance March 1, 2014, vs. Simon Fraser.

“Defensively we did a good job today and that was a huge lift,” WWU coach Carmen Dolfo said in a news release. “We turned the ball over too many times, but hit some key shots when we needed to. It was a good team effort.”

The Vikings held an 8-point lead at 20-12 following the first quarter. Concordia opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run to pull even at 22-22. WWU then went on a 6-1 run on a jumper by Gandy and a 3-pointer by Hathaway to pull ahead with a 28-23 halftime lead. Hathaway led all players with 8 points in the first half, followed closely by Bernsen (six points, four rebounds, one block) and Gandy (six points, two rebounds).

This story was originally published January 1, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "WWU women’s basketball earns win over Concordia."