Brooke Walling/Women's Basketball | Western Washington University
Brooke Walling/Women's Basketball | Western Washington University
The calendar has turned to March, and like the weather changing, one thing is nearly for certain…and that is the Western Washington University women's basketball team is headed to the NCAA Division II Basketball Championships.
For the 19th time in 24 possible seasons since joining the NCAA Division II level, and third consecutive, the Vikings have advanced to play in the NCAA postseason. WWU has advanced to the postseason (conference, regional, NCAA) in 48 of 51 possible seasons of program history.
WWU swept the 2022-23 Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships, winning the regular-season and postseason tournament titles, earning an automatic bid to the West Regional Championships. The Vikings were announced Sunday night as the No. 2 seed in the eight team West Regional that will be held March 10-13 in Carson, California, hosted by No. 1 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills in the Torodome.
The Vikings are 24-3 heading into the NCAA Tournament with a current four-game winning streak, including a thrilling 76-71 come-from-behind victory over Montana State Billings in Saturday's GNAC Championships Final in Carver Gym.
Western will play No. 7 seed Azusa Pacific (25-4) in the opening round, with tip-off set for 2:30 pm on Friday, March 10.
WWU is the defending West Regional champion, defeating host Cal State East Bay last year as the No. 3 seed to advance to the third Elite Eight in program history. The Vikings are 20-17 all-time in the NCAA Division II Championships.
The Vikings carry an 11-1 record away from Bellingham into regional play and will be facing an Azusa Pacific squad that handed the Vikings one of their three losses on the season. WWU fell to APU 59-58 in the season opener in the West Region Crossover Classic held at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham.
Western is one of three GNAC schools to advance to the NCAA Championships, joining No. 4 seed Montana state Billings and No. 6 seed Central Washington.
The Vikings are led by GNAC Championships Most Outstanding Player and unanimous all-conference selection junior forward Brooke Walling, who is averaging 13.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game. Senior guard Avery Dykstra was selected as the GNAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and is averaging 7.8 points per game. WWU features a deep and balanced lineup with nine players averaging at least 5.0 points per game and all 11 players logging at least 8.0 minutes per game.
WWU heads into the postseason ranked 2nd nationally in both assists (19.6) and blocked shots (6.0) per game, 3rd in field goal percentage (.488/763-for-1565) and 17th in scoring offense averaging 75.8 points per game.
The NCAA Division II Championships features a 64-team field with eight teams from eight regions across the country. The winner of each region will converge in St. Joseph, Missouri for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the Elite Eight, with the national championship game played April 1 in Dallas, Texas.
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