BURNABY, B.C. -- The Simon Fraser women's basketball team couldn't overcome an early deficit and fell 82-60 to the host Western Washington Vikings Saturday night in Bellingham.

It was the opening contest of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference schedule for both programs. SFU's last GNAC regular season game was Feb. 29, 2020 at Montana State Billings.

Sophomore guard/forward Jessica Wisotzki scored 13 points to lead SFU (3-6, 0-1 GNAC). Senior forward Claudia Hart and junior guard Emma Kramer contributed 10 points each.

Junior guard Georgia Swant recorded eight points and four assists. Junior guard/forward Sophie Klassen had eight points and six rebounds.

Avery Dykstra paced the WWU offence with 16 points.
 

The Vikings opened the contest by scoring 11 of the first 13 points. Jessica Wisotzki's three-point basket closed the gap to 13-9. However, WWU extended its advantage with a 10-1 run over a span of 3:11 in the latter half of the first quarter. The period concluded with the score 26-16 in favour of the hosts.

The Vikings pushed their lead to 19 points with 4:36 to go before halftime with a 13-4 surge. Back-to-back Klassen layups made the score 39-24 but SFU wasn't able to cut its deficit below 15 points the rest of the way. Western Washington was ahead 48-30 at halftime, and 70-49 going into the final quarter.

SFU shot 36.7 per cent from the field (22 of 60). The Vikings shot 53.2 per cent (33 of 62), and had a 40-25 rebounding edge.

SFU has two games left in December, both on home court at the West Gym. The first will be a non-conference matchup on Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. against Capilano. The team's next league contest is on Dec. 30 versus Saint Martin's at 7 p.m.

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