Author: Rosemary Hansen

In the ever-growing world of weight loss, diet programs such as Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers have climbed to the top of the market. They represent the two different segments of the dieting world: pre-packaged meals and calorie counting. Celebrities like Jennifer Hudson and Charles Barkley promote the effectiveness of these plans on television. But it may be difficult for the average person to understand what these diets are really about, and most importantly, if they work.

The Portland State women’s basketball team broke their four-game losing streak by sweeping their two home games last weekend. The Vikings beat the Weber State Wildcats on Thursday night and the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Saturday. Although the Wildcats and ’Jacks are dead last in the Big Sky standings, head coach Sherri Murrell said the games were a much-needed confidence boost for the road-weary Vikings.

Movies commonly portray tango as an over-the-top dance style complete with roses—but it doesn’t have to be that way. Portland State’s tango club features Argentinean tango, which is considered a social dance and is much more personal and subtle. The club offers a way for newcomers or experienced tango dancers to have instruction and practice time with the dance.

The Portland State women’s basketball team comes back the Stott Center this week hoping to end its four-game losing streak. Now sitting in sixth place in the Big Sky standings at 11-9, 3-5 in-conference, the Vikings will try to use their home court advantage against Weber State tonight and Northern Arizona this weekend.

The Portland State women’s basketball team was unable to pull itself out of its losing slump; they lost this weekend to Montana and Montana State. Late runs by both Montanas sent Portland State scrambling, and they were unable to come out ahead. The Vikings, picked first in pre-season polls, are struggling to keep their Big Sky championship dream alive. The losses sent the Vikings to the bottom half of the standings in sixth place.

Winter chills have taken the Portland State Crew team off the water, but the club is still busy on land training for their spring season. With water time at a minimum, crew teams have found an interesting alternative to racing in boats: indoor crew. In mid-February, the team will compete in the Tough Love Indoor Rowing Championships, a dry-land competition which uses rowing machines and monitors to simulate an outdoor race.

The Portland State women’s basketball team fell in their second straight loss, this time against the Eastern Washington Eagles. The Vikings gave up a rough 21 turnovers to give the Eagles the chance to win the game. The eagles capitalized and put the game away 75-67. The gritty game ended in multiple missed shots and turnovers by the Vikings, and dropped the Vikings to 11-7, 3-3 in the Big Sky.

The game was not one for the record books in terms of completed plays. Both teams struggled back and forth to gain momentum in the first half. The home team mishandled the ball in 11 turnovers in the first half alone. Despite the turnovers, the Vikings were able to capitalize on some Eastern defensive mistakes early on in the half, and went into the locker room up 28-27.

In today’s America, fans across the nation can enjoy women’s and men’s versions of nearly all sports,―but it has not always been this way. On Feb. 2, the Portland State Rec Club will host a presentation honoring National Women and Girls in Sports Day. This year is the 40th anniversary of the passing of Title IX, the bill which prohibits discrimination by sex in education. The event highlights speakers that range from an Olympic medal winner to Portland State athletes and coaches and young women athletes from around Portland.

In the end, it all came down to a pair of free throws for the Viking women’s basketball team to secure a win over Northern Colorado. The nail-biting finale gave the home team a 62-61 victory over the visiting Bears. The win sets the Vikings at 11-5; 6-1 in conference standing.

In the final moments of the game, at a one-point deficit, the Vikings struggled to secure a final run against the Bears―and after a series of missed shots, they did. An inbounds play made specifically for sophomore Kate Lanz and junior Karley Lampman created an opportunity for the Vikings to score and turn the game in their favor.

With Kate Lanz in the forefront, the Portland State women’s basketball team is set to take on the Northern Colorado Bears this Thursday. The Vikings are coming off of back-to-back road wins against Northern Arizona and Weber State. Both games highlighted Lanz’ shooting and freshman forward Keaton McFadden as a key rebounder.

The Bears are 10-6, 2-1 in conference,―the same conference standings as the Vikings. The Bears come into the game off a win against Sacramento State. The team is led by sophomore guard D’Shara Strange, with 21 points and 14 rebounds.

The women’s basketball team is sporting a new offensive threat in the form of sophomore Kate Lanz. Lanz, a transfer from Oregon State, redshirted with the Vikings in the 2010 season. A year of practice has bettered the guard, who also plays post, to be one of the key offensive threats for Portland State.

Lanz has already received two Big Sky Player of the Week awards in the past three weeks. Last week she gained the title for her performance against Northern Arizona and Weber State. The sophomore led the Vikings in scoring and pulled down an average 25 points and 11 rebounds as well as shooting 56.7 percent from inside the paint for the week.