Western Washington players and coach Carmen Dolfo felt joy, giddiness and satisfaction as they snipped pieces of the basketball net after Monday night’s win that put them in rarified territory — the NCAA Division II Elite Eight tournament. They also felt a dose of something else: Disbelief.
The Vikings’ run through the NCAA West Regional as the No. 3 seed wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, knocking off familiar conference rivals No. 6 Alaska Anchorage and No. 2 Central Washington, along with top-seeded Cal State East Bay on Monday.
But to be one of eight teams in the nation left to play for the national championship, starting at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Birmingham, Alabama against No. 4 Valdosta State?
“It’s kind of surreal,” said Emma Duff, Western’s first-team all-conference guard, after winning the title game, 73-59, over national No. 15-ranked East Bay. “It’s something that we’ve had our eyes on all year.”
That might be, but Duff revealed after the game she didn’t even know for sure she’d play her fifth-year senior season at all, along with veteran guard Gracie Castaneda.
“Coming back as a fifth-year, and Gracie’s a sixth-year — that COVID year, we weren’t sure if we were going to come back,” said Duff. “I think now, we’re shocked that we’ve made it all this way. We’re just glad that we did this one more time.”
Even as recently as last week’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference tournament, when the Vikings (23-5, No. 25 in the nation) struggled to reach the final as the No. 1 seed and lost to rival Central Washington, the team wasn’t feeling confident in stretching their season.
“No,” said Dolfo when asked if it looked like this would happen. “We came back from the GNAC tournament and I don’t think we were super happy with ourselves. We got to the finals and that was great but it didn’t feel great.”
Back home, practicing in Carver Gymnasium for a few days before the NCAA Tournament, the team regained its scoring touch and recalibrated. It turned around the postseason.
“They just kind of got back and refocused and remembered what we were good at,” said Dolfo, “and how much they needed each other and … They had an amazing tournament.”
Western has reached the final eight for the third time in Dolfo’s remarkable 31-year career at Western, where she has guided teams to 22 seasons of 20 or more wins. Dolfo added a fifth conference coach of the year honor this season.
Both times the Vikings reached the Elite Eight tournament, in 2000 at Pine Bluff, Arkansas and in 2013 in San Antonio, they reached the Final Four.
Dolfo had a feeling about this team early, but a roller-coaster season with injuries and games lost and rescheduled because of COVID put everything up in the air.
They won the season’s first 10 straight games, including non-conference games against then-ranked No. 5 Azusa Pacific and No. 19 Cal State San Marcos in November.
“Those are two of the top teams,” Dolfo said, “(and) I thought we could have it. But it takes so much to get there and we’ve had a lot of ups and downs and not healthy players. So you never know how things are going to go with that.”
The Vikings lost their senior leader and point guard Dani Iwami midway through the season to a blown-out knee. Then Western all but lost its backup point guard, junior Mollie Olson, for the season’s second half. Western lost two of their last three regular-season games, including one to unheralded Simon Fraser that jettisoned any chance of hosting the West Regional.
“I’m just proud of all the things these guys have gone through,” Dolfo said. “They stayed together and they stayed positive and they’ve kept working hard.”
Duff and sophomore forward Brooke Walling (tournament MVP), both named to the regional all-tournament team, have been Western’s key 1-2 punch all season on a balanced team known for defense. The team boasts sisters with all-conference honors – redshirt junior GNAC Defensive Player of the Year Avery Dykstra and GNAC Freshman of the Year Riley Dykstra from Everson.
Getting to the Elite Eight has been a team effort. Eight players average 4.7 points or more per game. Nine average 14 or more minutes. Junior forward Katrina Gimmaka, also from Everson, has started 11 games and seen action in 27. Western brings its 17-3 road record to Birmingham.
Hard work and resiliency can get you far. At times, you need some magic for surprises to materialize.
“You just have that chemistry that sometimes just happens,” Dolfo said. “And I think those (2000 and 2013) teams had it and this team has it. I think we’re going to go into this and take one game at a time like we have been all season. But we feel really confident great things can happen.”
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Elite Eight Schedule
Games are set for Monday, March 21 (quarterfinals), Wednesday, March 23 (semifinals) and Friday, March 25 (final). (Check wwuvikings.com for how to watch.)
Other first-round games:
No. 1 North Georgia v. No. 8 Pace
No. 2 Grand Valley State v. No. 7 Missouri Western
No. 3 Glenville State v. No. 6 West Texas A&M.
The national championship game will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
