Dec. 11, 2006

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

UPDATE: Riding a six-game winning streak, the Western Washington University women's basketball team has a 10-day layoff for fall quarter final examinations before playing host to the first Great Western Shootout on Dec. 19-20 at Valley High School in Las Vegas, Nev. Also competing in that four-team tourney are Cal Poly Pomona, UC San Diego and Seattle Pacific.

The Vikings, ranked No.14 nationally in the latest USA Today/ESPN/NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll, meet Cal Poly Pomona on Tue., Dec. 19 (1 p.m.) and No.22 UC San Diego on Wed., Dec. 20 (1 p.m.). They then travel to Dixie State UT on Thu., Dec. 21 (5:30 p.m.).

Western, 6-1, won both of its games at the California Collegiate Athletic Association/Great Northwest Athletic Conference Challenge Classic last weekend. The Vikings defeated Cal State Stanislaus, 76-61, on Friday and edged host Sonoma State, 64-56, on Saturday.

Western began the week with a 100-48 victory over Northwest last Tuesday. It was the first time in five years that the Vikings had reached the century mark in a game, and it was their 21st consecutive regular-season triumph on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium.

Following a 14-day break for the Christmas holidays, the defending league champion Vikings open GNAC play on Jan. 4 at Saint Martin's. They return home to play Seattle U. in a conference contest on Jan. 6. Western has won its last 19 league games.

Senior guard Mollie Stelmack was named MVP of the CCAA/GNAC Challenge Classic and GNAC Player of the Week. She averaged 22.3 points in the three wins last week, shooting 64.0 percent (25-of-40) from the field and 66.7 percent (12-of-18) from 3-point range. Stelmack also had 17 assists, including a career-high eight versus Northwest win, and 10 steals, with a career-high seven against Cal State Stanislaus.

Stelmack leads Western and the GNAC in scoring at 19.9 points a game. She has reached double figures in every game this season, scoring 20 or more points five times. Stelmack also paces the squad in assists (4.1, 2nd in GNAC), steals (3.7, 3rd in GNAC), field goal percentage (53.9, 48-of-89, 3rd in GNAC), 3-point shooting (52.5, 21-of-40, 2nd in GNAC) and 3-point makes per game (3.0, 1st in GNAC).

Junior forward Liz McCarrell, who scored a career-high 25 points versus Northwest, is averaging 13.6 points and 5.3 rebounds for the Vikings, grabbing a team-best 22 offensive boards. An all-tourney pick at the CCAA/GNAC Challenge Classic, she is shooting 50.0 percent (28-of-51) from the floor.

Two other top contributors for Western are junior forward Krystal Robinson and sophomore center Claire Pallansch. Robinson leads the GNAC in blocked shots with an average of 3.7 per game, while scoring at a 9.7 clip on 51.7 percent (31-of-60) field goal shooting. Pallansch is averaging 9.3 points on 50.0 percent (25-of-50) floor accuracy and leads the team in rebounding with a 6.9 average.

The Vikings pace the GNAC in scoring offense (77.6), field goal percentage (46.2), 3-point percentage (36.1) and blocked shots (6.5).

UPCOMING GAMES:

Dec. 19 (Tue.) - WWU GREAT WESTERN SHOOTOUT (Las Vegas, NV)
Game 1 - Seattle Pacific vs. UC San Diego, 11 a.m.
Game 2 - WESTERN vs. Cal Poly Pomona#, 1 p.m.
Dec. 20 (Wed.) - WWU GREAT WESTERN SHOOTOUT (Las Vegas, NV)
Game 3 - Seattle Pacific vs. Cal Poly Pomona, 11 a.m.
Game 4 - WESTERN vs. UC San Diego#, 1 p.m.
Dec. 21 (Thu.) at Dixie State College (St. George, UT), 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 4 (Thu.) at Saint Martin's University*# (Lacey), 7 p.m.
Jan. 6 (Sat.) SEATTLE UNIVERSITY* (BELLINGHAM), 7 p.m.

Home games (all caps) on Haggen Court at Sam Carver Gymnasium
#broadcast on KBAI Radio (930 AM) and via the internet at wwuvikings.com
*Great Northwest Athletic Conference contest

STELMACK OFF TO SIZZLING START: Senior guard Mollie Stelmack is averaging 19.9 points per game so far this season. If she were to maintain that, it would be the highest scoring average by a Western player since Jo Metzger scored at a school-record 21.7 clip during the 1980-81 season. The Vikings' two highest scorers since then have been Gina Sampson, who averaged 17.5 points in 1995-96, and Celeste Hill, who averaged 17.0 in 1999-2000.

Stelmack leads the GNAC in scoring, while being second among league leaders in assists (4.1) and third in steals (3.7). She also tops the league in 3-point makes per game (3.0), and is second in 3-point percentage (52.5, 21-of-40) and third in field goal percentage (53.9, 48-of-89).

The 5-foot-11 Stelmack from New Westminster, B.C., has scored double figures in all seven games, hitting for 20 or more five times. She has had career highs of 26 points against Chadron State NE, eight assists versus Northwest and seven steals versus Cal State Stanislaus.

In the Vikings' three wins last week, Stelmack averaged 22.3 points, shooting 64.0 percent (25-of-40) from the floor and 66.7 percent (12-of-18) from 3-point range.

Stelmack was the GNAC Newcomer of the Year last season, averaging 10.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists, after transferring from Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire. She played two seasons there.

THREE-DOT NOTES: Robinson has 127 career blocks, which ranks sixth among Western leaders ... Reserve sophomore forward Willow Cabe returned to action against Northwest after missing three games with a knee injury suffered in the Vikings' season opener against Mesa State CO. She is averaging 5.8 points and 6.8 rebounds ... Western has won 21 straight regular-season home games ... Stelmack was named MVP at the CCAA/GNAC Challenge Classic, and McCarrell also earned all-tourney honors. ... Western reserve sophomore guard MacKenzie Flynn was named MVP at the WWU Lynda Goodrich Classic. Also receiving all-tourney recognition were Robinson and Stelmack. The Vikings are 19-1 at the Goodrich Classic, their only loss coming in the final game of the 2002 tourney ... Western, the defending GNAC champion and the preseason favorite this year, has won its last 19 GNAC contests ... The season-opening 77-62 loss to Mesa State CO was just the second in the last 12 years for the Vikings ... The 100-point effort against Northwest was the first for Western since early in the 2002-03 season (112 games) when it had back-to-back triple-digit efforts. It was the 21st time in school history that the Vikings had scored 100 points, with the school record being 126 at Sheldon Jackson AK during the 1987-88 campaign ... Western graduated four starters from last year's 27-2 squad that won the GNAC championship with a perfect 18-0 record and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Division II West Regional ... The Vikings have made nine straight national appearances and are working on a similar string of 20-win seasons.

HOME COURT DOMINANCE: The Vikings are 363-59 (86.0 percent) in this their 35th year at Carver Gym. Western has reached double-digit victories at home in each of the last nine seasons. Western was 14-1 in 2005-06, 12-1 in 2004-05, 11-2 in 2003-04, 12-2 in 2002-03, 13-1 in 2001-02, 13-1 in 2000-01, 12-0 in 1999-2000, 13-2 in 1998-99 and 10-4 in 1997-98.

COACH DOLFO: Carmen Dolfo is in her 16th year as head coach at Western. She has a 335-113 (74.8 percent) record. Entering this season, Dolfo ranked 12th among active NCAA II coaches in winning percentage and 29th in victories. Dolfo's teams have reached post-season play 15 times and have won 20 or more games 13 times. She was named GNAC Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2006, Northwest small college Coach of the Year in 2000 and Pacific Northwest Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1996. Dolfo was the top Viking assistant for four seasons (95-28, 77.2) and earned All-America honors as a player at Western.

THE TRADITION CONTINUES: With 767 victories in its 36-year history, Western is one of just four NCAA Division II schools that has reached that milestone and 15 nationally in all NCAA divisions ... The Vikings have made 27 straight post-season appearances and 33 overall, reaching nationals 16 times, including one semifinal and three quarterfinal finishes ... They also have had 27 20-win seasons and are working on a string of nine straight ... Western has had 20 winning streaks of 10 or more games with its longest being 20, and its longest losing streak is just four games ... Former Western coach Lynda Goodrich, now the Vikings' director of athletics, is a member of the NAIA National Hall of Fame. She coached Western for 19 seasons, winning more than 400 games (411-124, 76.7 percent). Another Viking NAIA Hall of Famer is forward Jo Metzger (1977-81), who earned first-team All-American honors in 1980 and 1981 ... Western has had 13 first, second or third-team All-Americans.

RADIO BROADCASTS: Selected Western games are being broadcast this season on KBAI Radio (930 AM) with Doug Lange handling the play-by-play, and either Mark Scholten, Jason Stiles or Ervin Kuehbler providing the color commentary. They also can be heard on the internet at www.wwuvikings.com.

ON THE WEB: For up-to-date statistics, box scores of every game, records, stories, etc., see the Western Athletic web page at www.wwuvikings.com. Up-to-date league standings and statistics can be found on the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web page at www.gnacsports.com.

PROBABLE WESTERN STARTERS & TOP RESERVES:

F Liz McCarrell, 5-11, **Jr., Ferndale, WA/Ferndale
F Krystal Robinson, 6-2, **Jr., Kent, WA/Kentridge
C Claire Pallansch, 6-1, *So., Redmond, WA/Redmond/Oregon State
G Mollie Stelmack, 5-11,*Sr., New Westminster, BC/Franklin Pierce NH
G India Soo, 5-6, So.-TR, Kamuela, HI/Kamehameha/Idaho State

G MacKenzie Flynn, 5-5, So.-TR, Redmond, WA/Redmond/Idaho
C Sarah Schramm, 6-0, So., Chelan, WA/Chelan
G Elyse Hartman, 5-8, **Jr., Eagle River, AK/Chugiak
F Willow Cabe, 6-1, *So., McCleary, WA/Elma
*letters

OPPONENT SKETCHES:

CAL POLY POMONA: The Broncos (2-3, Dec. 13 host Cal State San Bernardino) return three starters from last year's 11-16 squad for interim coach Michelle Fortier, who was an assistant at NCAA I Southeast Missouri State in 2005-06 after 12 years as head coach at Kalamazoo College. The trio includes 5-8 junior guard Unique Anderson (7.2 ppg, 4.2 rpg), 5-7 junior guard Ashley Moody (9.0 ppg, 3.4 apg) and 6-0 junior center Ally Smith (7.6 ppg). Another top player back is 6-0 junior forward Porsche Kirksey (9.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg). Two top transfers, both from Irvine Valley College, are 5-8 junior forward Vanessa Dominguez (12.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg) where she was an honorable mention Kodak All-American and second-team all-State, and 5-4 junior guard Cassey Brick (4.4 ppg). CPP has won a record-tying five NCAA II national titles and has won 48 post-season games, more than any other Division II school. CPP holds an 8-5 series advantage.

UC SAN DIEGO: The Tritons (2-1, Dec. 16 at Cal State Dominguez Hills, Dec. 19 vs. Seattle Pacific), ranked No.22 nationally, return four starters from last year's 23-5 team, arguably the best in school history, that reached the first round of the NCAA II West Regional. They are led by 5-8 senior guard Leora Juster (28.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.7 apg), a second-team Daktronics All-American, West Region Player of the Year and CCAA Most Valuable Player. Also back for coach Janell Jones (2nd year, 25-6; 9th overall, 200-20) are 6-0 senior forward Hillary Hansen (17.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.7 apg), a second-team all-CCAA pick, and 6-0 sophomore forward Michelle Osier (5.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg), a first-team all-CCAA choice and CCAA Freshman of the Year. Another top returnee is 6-2 sophomore center Alexis Gaskin (8.3 ppg). First meeting.

DIXIE STATE COLLEGE: The Rebels (5-5, Dec. 16 host California Baptist, Dec. 18 at Westminster UT) are making the transition from junior college to NCAA Division II and are a member of the Pacific West Conference. They return two starters from last year's 17-15 team for first-year coach Angela Kristensen (5th year overall, 76-68). They are 6-0 sophomore forward Jessica Carver (12.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 1.9 bpg) and 5-8 sophomore guard Lacey Christensen (6.6 ppg). Another key returnee is 5-6 sophomore guard Liz Lewis (10.2 ppg, 3.5 apg). Three talented newcomers are 5-8 sophomore guard Chelsea Robinson (11.8 ppg), a transfer from Brigham Young University, and 6-0 senior forward Maggie Apt (6.1 ppg, 7.2 rpg), a transfer from Pittsburg State University, and 5-6 freshman guard Tiara Bowman (16.4 ppg). First meeting.

GAME SUMMARIES:

Dec. 5 - WESTERN 100, Northwest 48 at Bellingham

McCarrell scored a game and career-high 25 points, 17 of them in the second half, as Western defeated Northwest, 100-48, in a non-league game at Carver Gym. Stelmack had 20 points and a game-high eight assists for the Vikings, scoring 16 of her points in the first half. Northwest, which fell to 5-6, was led by guard Jasmine Yeldon, who had 12 points, 10 of them in the first 14 minutes. Western, which reached triple digits for the first time in 112 games, a string dating back to the 2002-03 season, scored the first seven points of the game and led thereafter. The Vikings held a 23-point lead, 43-20, with 2:43 left in the first half, but Northwest rallied to score the final nine points of the half to narrow the gap to 14, 43-29, at halftime. Western then opened the second half by outscoring the Eagles 29-5 over the first nine minutes to take a 72-34 advantage with 11 minutes left and put the game completely out of reach. Schramm and Robinson had 14 and 11 points, respectively, for Western, which has won 21 straight regular-season games at home. Robinson also had a game-high five blocked shots. The Vikings had a 42-28 edge in rebounds, and shot a season-high 57.6 percent (38-of-66) from the field, hitting 9-of-18 3-pointers. They held Northwest to 30.2 percent floor accuracy (16-of-53) and forced 29 Eagle turnovers.

Dec. 8 - WESTERN 76, Cal State Stanislaus 61 at Rohnert Park, CA (CCAA/GNAC Challenge Classic)

Stelmack continued her torrid scoring with a game-high 24 points as Western defeated Cal State Stanislaus, 76-61, in first-day action at the CCAA/GNAC Challenge Classic at Seawolf Gymnasium. Robinson had 13 points and game-highs of nine rebounds and seven blocked shots, tying her career bests in the latter two categories. McCarrell scored 10 points for the Vikings, and Cabe came off the bench to add 11 points and seven rebounds. Cal State Stanislaus, which fell to 0-4, was led by forward Lysandra Williams with 21 points and eight rebounds. Forward Gwedolyn Page had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Warriors. Stelmack, who made 9-of-15 field goal attempts, had a career-high seven steals, along with six assists and four rebounds. Stelmack had 15 points in the first half as Western scored the game's first nine points and ended the opening period with a 16-3 run over a span of 5:32 for a 44-27 halftime lead. The Vikings never led by less than 11 points in the second half, that being 54-43 with 12:18 remaining. Their biggest advantage was 19 points, 73-54, with 2:22 to go. Western shot 57.1 percent (16-of-28) in the first half, while holding the Seawolves to 28.6 percent (8-of-28), including 1-of-8 from 3-point range.

Dec. 9 - WESTERN 64, Sonoma State 56 at Rohnert Park, CA (CCAA/GNAC Challenge Classic)

Stelmack scored a game-high 23 points, 17 in the first half as she hit all five of her 3-pointers, as Western defeated host Sonoma State, 64-56, to close out the CCAA/GNAC Challenge Classic at Seawolf Gymnasium. Pallansch had 14 points for the Vikings, and McCarrell added nine points and seven rebounds. Sonoma State, which upset No.17 Seattle Pacific, 56-49, a day earlier, fell to 2-4. The Seawolves were led by guard Danae Wellander with 14 points and a game-high eight rebounds. Trailing by four points, 46-42, with 11:36 remaining in the game, Western used a 16-4 run over the next six minutes to lead by eight, 58-50 with 5:26 to go. Schramm, who scored all six of her points in the final nine minutes, put the Vikings ahead to stay, 50-48, with a jumper at 8:10. The closest Sonoma State got after that was five, 58-53, as the game's last 10 points came at the free throw line. Stelmack kept Western close in the opening period as she made 6-of-7 field goals, including all five from beyond the arc, and dished out three assists. Western took an early 9-2 lead, only to have the Seawolves rally to lead 14-13 with 9:38 left in the first period. The Vikings led by six, 27-21, with 3:58 left in the half, but Sonoma State came back to go in front, 33-30, at 1:25. The lead changed hands four times in the final minute, with Hartman., who had five assists in the game, giving Western a 36-35 halftime advantage on a layup in the final seconds. The Vikings held Sonoma State to 24.1 percent (7-of-29) field goal shooting in the second half.