Peakocke leads WWU women to win at Saint Martin’s

Western Washington University junior guard Taylor Peacocke scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Vikings to a 66-45 victory over Saint Martin’s on Wednesday, Jan. 13, in a Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s basketball game in Lacey.

With their ninth victory over the last 11 games the Vikings improved to 10-5 overall and 6-1 in GNAC play. Saint Martin’s falls to 5-9 overall and 3-4 in conference play. The game was televised on ROOT SPORTS as the GNAC Game of the Week.

Peacock led all players with her 18 points (8-for-19 shooting), turning in an all-around game with five rebounds and four assists. Junior forward Tia Briggs contributed 13 points and eight rebounds.

Senior center Kayla Bernsen also had eight rebounds, all in the second half, and recorded her 146th career blocked shot to move into a tie for 5th place in the WWU career record books. Junior guard Aleisha Hathaway and junior forward Kiana Gandy each added nine points.

The Vikings shot 48.3 percent from the field (28 for 58), including 55.6 percent in the second half (15 for 27). WWU had nine different players score in the game.

“I thought we played a complete game tonight and it started with our defense,” WWU coach Carmen Dolfo said in a news release. “We had a lot of contributors tonight and really shared the ball.”

GNAC leading scorer Krista Stabler led the Saints with 14 points, below her incoming season average of 18.5 points per game. Senior forward Megan Wiedeman turned in a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

WWU trailed early 5-0, but went on a 17-4 run to end the first quarter with a 17-9 lead. The Vikings held the Saints to only two free throws over the final 6:21 of the quarter. Briggs (six points) and freshman Nikki Corbett (four points) led Western in the opening quarter.

The Vikings held a 10-point lead at halftime 31-21, out-scoring SMU 14-12 in the second quarter. Peacocke led all players with seven points in the quarter on 3-for-5 shooting. Stabler scored eight of the Saints’ 12 points in the quarter.

Western went on a 12-4 run late in the third quarter to build a 15-point lead at 46-32 to end the quarter. Peacocke again paced the WWU offense with seven points.

This story was originally published January 13, 2016 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Peakocke leads WWU women to win at Saint Martin’s."