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Comeback win fuels optimism for Western’s injury-plagued women’s hoops team 

Minutes, points pile up for Vikings' starting five

By Meri-Jo Borzilleri CDN Contributor

When the highlight reel of this women’s basketball season is made, Saturday, Jan. 11’s come-from-behind 67-65 victory over rival Central Washington will be on it. The Vikings’ rally from 13 points down with less than nine minutes left delivered coach Carmen Dolfo her 700th career victory and came despite starting point guard Mason Oberg’s absence after a first-half shoulder injury. 

But the real story is a starting five carrying an unexpectedly heavy load after injuries decimated the squad and submarined a promising season before it really even started.

The five, seniors Olivia Wikstrom and Maddy Grandbois, juniors Alyson Deaver and Oberg, along with sophomore Demi Dykstra and three starts from sophomore Jadyn Watts, account for more than 90% of the team’s scoring for Western (4-2 conference, 9-6 overall), currently in third place in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. By comparison, the top five players for the two teams ahead of them, Montana State Billings and Alaska Anchorage, account for 75% and 70%, respectively.

Western’s Olivia Wikstrom goes under the basket for a shot against Central Washington Jan. 11. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)

A bench of hardworking walk-ons and plucky volleyball player Anna VanderYacht, a two-sport star at Lynden High, is hard-pressed to make up for scholarship players with season-ending injuries. Western ranks last among 290 NCAA Division II teams in bench points, averaging 5.6 points a game. 

The starting five are frequently the finishing five — Grandbois played all 40 minutes Saturday and Deaver 30, while Wikstrom and Dykstra, back from a knee injury herself, played 37 apiece. Every game they take the floor, they are walking a tightrope. 

“We have to play knowing we’re going to come out for maybe a minute and then go back in,” said Deaver. “It’s more mental than anything, because we’re having to focus every possession on not fouling.” 

The mental adjustment goes even further, said Wikstrom, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder who leads the conference with five double-doubles. Having a bad night shooting? Find another way to help — on defense, crashing the boards for rebounds, talking up a teammate. 

Western players at the bench cheer as they take the lead late in the fourth quarter against Central Washington Jan. 11. (Andy Bronson/Cascadia Daily News)

“You just kind of have to step outside yourself a little bit,” she said. “Figure out what else I can give to the team … so just figuring out ways to impact the game, even if it’s not your night.” 

All those minutes and Western’s brand of defense-first basketball can hurt – Deaver is wearing a protective boot outside practice because of a stress reaction to her foot – but it also can bond. Collective anger over a frustrating loss to Northwest Nazarene Jan. 9 helped fuel Saturday’s comeback, capped by Grandbois’ clutch late free throws and a nice surprise from walk-on sophomore guard Ellee Brockman, whose short jumper gave the Vikings their first lead at 62-60 with 1:28 left. Cue the confetti. 


For a team that is the two-time defending conference tourney champs and picked to finish first in the GNAC preseason poll, players say Saturday’s back-from-the-dead win proves this season can still be salvaged. 

“I feel like we want to carry on the tradition from the last couple of years,” said Wikstrom, a senior. “If you focus on one game at a time, you never know what this team can accomplish.” 

Viking men return home 

Senior guard Will Wilson, averaging 15.3 points per game, and redshirt freshman guard Grant Kepley (15.0), a 2023 Sehome grad, lead the men’s basketball team in hosting No. 17 nationally ranked Saint Martin’s (16-2 overall, 5-0 GNAC) Saturday at Carver Gym. Kepley is on a tear, averaging 19.5 points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals over the past two games. Western  (9-7, 1-5) is 5-3 at home, winning its first conference game of the season against MSU Billings last week.  

Grant Kepley’s 4.5 assists per game ranks third in the conference. The 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman, a 2023 Sehome High graduate, is also second on the team in scoring, averaging 15 points per game. (Photo courtesy of MSUB Athletics)

Looking forward to … 

The resumption of the indoor track season with the UW Preview and Mile City meets Jan. 17 and 18, respectively, at the University of Washington’s Dempsey Indoor facility. The Vikings’ women’s and men’s teams are on track for a historically good season … The 2024 NCAA Division II runner-up women’s softball team starts a new season Friday, Jan. 31 with swings through California, then Hawaii and Richland before its Saturday, March 1 home opener, a doubleheader with Simon Fraser. 

BEST BETS  

7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 – Men’s basketball vs. Saint Martin’s, Bellingham. After a dominating performance in its first conference win over Montana State Billings Jan. 11, the 1-5 Vikings (9-7 overall) take on the GNAC’s first-place team in Saint Martin’s (5-0 GNAC, 16-2) at Carver Gym 

7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18 – Men’s basketball vs. Western Oregon, Bellingham. Going into this week’s games, Western Oregon (0-5 GNAC, 3-12 overall) is in last place in the conference, with Western two spots above in eighth 

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 

Meri-Jo Borzilleri is a freelance journalist and former 20-year sports reporter.

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