Showdown at the Stott

Their reputation precedes them. When they step into an opponent’s gym they are marked with a target on their backs so big you could see it from the top row of the bleachers.

Before the starting five even step on the court, the opposing coaches have warned their players about the senior forward who leads the conference in scoring and who owns six school records.

They’ve warned them about the junior point guard who has eyes in the back of her head and was an All-American honorable mention last season. They’ve warned them about the team’s ability to hit the boards and get out on the fast break with lightning speed.

When teams travel to the Stott Center, they know they are entering the lion’s den.

For the first time since the program made the jump to Division I in 1996, the Portland State women’s basketball team has shed the mantle of underdog.

Tabbed to place third in the conference this year in a preseason coaches poll, the Vikings have exceeded even those lofty expectations en route to a perfect 6-0 Big Sky record.

But there is still one opponent against whom the Vikings are called the underdog.

It is the same team that defeated the Vikings 94-80 in the semifinals of the conference tournament last season, ending Portland State’s season and paving the way for their own conference title.

Undoubtedly, the Montana Lady Griz are the current juggernaut of the Big Sky Conference.

At 17-3, the Lady Griz own the best overall record in the Big Sky and, with a 6-0 mark, they share conference supremacy with the Vikings.

But the Lady Griz have not just been beating their conference opponents: They’ve been decimating them by an average of 20 points.

“They are a seasoned, veteran team,” head coach Sherri Murrell said. “They have three starters who have played together for four years, so they are very solid and work well together.”

Junior guard Claire Faucher, who had some of her best games against Montana last year, averaging 22.3 points, nine assists and eight rebounds per game in the three matchups, had simpler words to describe the formula of Montana’s success.

“They do what they do, and they do it well,” Faucher said.

What it is they do, exactly, is score bunches of points and shut opponents down defensively. The Lady Griz average a conference best 79.7 points per contest in Big Sky play, while limiting their foes to just 55.

That deadly combination has allowed Montana to virtually steamroll their competition all season long, but Viking fans hope that today, when Montana arrives in the South Park Blocks, that trend will end.

“It’s going to be a huge game,” Faucher said. “We want to go through [our conference schedule] undefeated and host the tournament this year, and we have to go through Montana to do it.”

The two teams met last on March 14, 2008, in the semifinals of the Big Sky Tournament, of which Montana was the hosts. Having split the pair of regular season matchups, with each team winning on its home court, the stage was set for a dogfight.

The squads traded punches for most of the game, while the spotlight shone on the point guard face-off between Faucher and Montana’s Mandy Morales.

The two put on a virtual clinic, hoisting their team onto their shoulders in the second half. Faucher ended the night with a team-high 27 points, seven assists and six rebounds. But Morales countered with 31 points, seven assists and eight rebounds.

“It basically became a showdown between two of the best point guards on the West Coast,” Murrell said.
In the end, the Lady Griz prevailed over the Vikings, but the taste of that defeat still lingers in the mouths of Faucher and her teammates.

“I wouldn’t say that we’re out for revenge,” Faucher said. “But we definitely know that if we’re going to win, we have to get the little things done, and we have to want it more.”

Tonight in the Stott Center, the Vikings will get their chance to shed their underdog status, possibly for good.