If there was ever a time for the Western men’s basketball team to catch fire, it’s now.
The Vikings (15-8, 7-6 Great Northwest Athletic Conference) are currently tied for fifth in the conference with five regular-season games remaining before the start of the GNAC tournament. And the Vikings have been on fire as of late — except for one small hiccup.
Western ripped off a seven-game winning streak, going unbeaten for nearly an entire month from Jan. 11 to Feb. 6, which included a win over then-No. 17 Saint Martin’s.
That was all before a down-to-the-wire, 64-63 loss to Seattle Pacific at home on Feb. 8, where the Falcons hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds left to play. It was a crucial loss for the Vikings, who were looking to gain ground in the standings against a Falcons team (13-11, 9-4 GNAC) that now sits in third place with a two-game conference lead.
Western’s game against the Falcons featured 18 lead changes and nine tie scores, and the Vikings have put the conference on notice as a team not to be taken lightly ahead of the GNAC tourney.
Redshirt freshman guard Grant Kepley, the team’s second-leading scorer with 14.7 points per game, had 13 points in the loss to Seattle Pacific. Kepley said the Vikings, who had lost four of five before starting their seven-game winning streak, can attribute their turnaround to the character of the team.
“It’s easy to divide and try to fix everything yourself,” Kepley said. “But after that tough [losing] streak we had, we all come together and leaned on each other — and that really fueled our [winning streak].”
Kepley said the biggest difference between now and the team at the beginning of the season is they are now battle-tested.
“We have really had to dig your feet in the ground and turn it around,” Kepley said. “We learned a lot from that; not to get too high or too low and just taking it a day at a time.”
They have a tough road ahead to cap off the regular season, but one that could help them jump ahead in the standings and secure a higher tournament seed. Three of their five remaining matchups are against teams ahead of them in the standings, including first-place Central Washington, second-place Northwest Nazarene and fourth-place Saint Martin’s.
But first they’ll face off against a struggling Western Oregon squad (4-18, 1-11 GNAC) on the road on Thursday, Feb. 13. Then they’ll head to Saint Martin’s on Saturday, Feb. 15, where a win would put them in a fourth-place tie with the Saints, assuming the Saints beat Simon Fraser on Thursday.
Women’s basketball
The injury-plagued women’s team has also had a late-season resurgence, winning four of their last five, most recently a 67-64 road victory over Northwest Nazarene on Saturday.
Lynden Christian alum Libby Stump led the Vikings against the Nighthawks with a team-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting after coming off the bench and logging 30 minutes. Her former teammate at Lynden Christian, Demi Dykstra, added 14 points, with two clutch free throws in the final 5 seconds to put the Vikings up by three.
The Vikings (14-8, 9-4) are in fourth place in the league standings, with a matchup looming against GNAC leader and #20-ranked Alaska Anchorage (20-3, 11-1 GNAC) at home Thursday night.
Indoor track and field
After two weeks off, Western’s men’s and women’s indoor track and field teams are sending a small crew to compete Friday and Saturday, Feb. 14-15 at the Husky Classic at the University of Washington.
The meet will be a tune-up for the GNAC Indoor Track & Field Championships on Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 17-18 in Spokane.
Included in the group headed to Seattle is senior Kevin McDermott, who will race in the 3,000-meter run, an event he currently ranks No. 13 in the nation (NCAA II) with a time of 8:02.90.
Senior Mia Crocker and junior Emmy Kroontje will both race in the 800-meter run, and are ranked No. 20 and No. 26 in the nation, respectively. Senior Sophie Wright will run the mile, where she is ranked No. 24 after setting a school record in 4:52.16.
BEST BETS
7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 13 – Women’s basketball vs. Alaska Anchorage, in Bellingham. The Vikings are in for a test against the No. 20-ranked and conference-leading Seawolves, who have won 10 of their last 11 games. That loss was against third-ranked Montana State University Billings.
7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 – Women’s Basketball vs. Alaska Fairbanks, in Bellingham. Saturday’s matchup against the Nanooks (6-14, 1-11 GNAC) should be much easier. Alaska Fairbanks is on the ropes, losing 13 of its last 14 games after going 5-1 to start the season.
Tickets. See wwuvikings.com/Tickets or in person one hour prior to game time.
Parking. Free for sports. For basketball, lot 19G for general audience; 9G for season ticket holders. See the map at wwu.edu/parking.
Can’t make it? Stream it
All home games and most road contests are streamed via a live and free YouTube webcast. Find links online at cascadiadaily.com.
If you have a smart TV, search for “WWU Athletics” on YouTube.
We want to hear from you
Got a WWU sports-related news tip or interesting item for this notebook, or a good story idea? We’re all ears. Send to newstips@cascadiadaily.com, subject line: WWU sports notebook
Eric Trent is CDN’s news producer; reach him at erictrent@cascadiadaily.com.
