Saturday, March 11, 2017

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Playing in its first NCAA West Regional since 2013, Western Washington hung with the No. 3 team in the nation California Baptist before eventually falling 80-68 in the Alaska Airlines Center on Saturday night.

The Vikings finish the season with a 26-6 record after earning the West Region’s No. 3 seed and reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament. Western Washington was led by Tia Briggs, who scored a career-high 29 points to go along with four assists and four rebounds in the final game of her collegiate career.

Senior Taylor Peacocke added 25 points, including 12 points in the first quarter. She wraps up her time at Western Washington with 1,943 career points, which was just six shy of the all-time GNAC record. The GNAC Player of the Year also finishes the season with a conference single-season record of 745 points. Western Washington’s season will also go into the conference record books for free-throw percentage, making exactly 80 percent of attempts this season.

The Vikings led by as much as eight in the second quarter, but the Lancers (33-2) went into halftime with a 24-8 run to take the lead for the rest of the game. Western Washington pulled to within one with a 3-point play by Briggs, but the No. 2 seed answered with a 6-0 run to reclaim control of the game.

Western Washington again cut the lead, getting it down to four at 72-68 with 3:10 left, but a pair of turnovers led to easy lay-ups and a 78-68 advantage for the PacWest regular season and tournament champions. The Lancers finished the game with a 44-30 rebounding advantage, pushing their winning streak to 30 games.

California Baptist will next play the winner of the second semifinal, which features two GNAC teams in No. 1 Alaska Anchorage and No. 5 Simon Fraser. The regional championship will be played at 7 p.m. (Alaska) on Monday. This is California Baptist’s second trip to the regional final in the last three years.

The Vikings held the PacWest’s all-time leading scorer Cassidy Mihalko to eight points, but Courtney Nelson made 8 of 12 field goals, including the only 3-pointer she attempted for a total of 22 points in the victory. Tori Mitchell added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Lancers.