“It’s the best feeling you can imagine,” said senior guard Claire Faucher after her team came back from a 20-point deficit on Friday to beat Montana State, 69–62.
Not only was it an incredible comeback, it was Portland State’s second-consecutive conference win after starting Big Sky play with last week’s road victory over Sacramento State—a game that marked head coach Sherri Murell’s 200th career win.
The Montana State Bobcats dominated the first half of Friday’s game, and went on a 10–0 run to gain a 20-point advantage over the Vikings. Montana State guard Katie Bussey led the Bobcats with 16 points as the Bobcats shot just over 43 percent of their field goals to head into the break with a 41–26 lead. The Vikings, by comparison, only managed a 27 percent field goal shooting.
“In the first half we didn’t make our easy shots and we got really quiet and didn’t play defense,” Faucher said. “That’s when they went on their run.”
Murrel said she made no adjustments to her game plan at the break despite what appeared to be a complete turning of the tables.
“I told the team to play harder,” she said. “We played the same way but with better effort.”
The effort paid off, as the Vikings rallied in the second half behind the hot shooting of Faucher, who scored an incredible 25 of her 28 points in the second 20 minutes. Making 54 percent of their three-pointers, Portland State took the lead with two minutes left as Faucher sank a wide-open three and another with the shot clock running down to give the Vikings a 66–62 lead.
Murrel said the last 10 minutes made the game.
“[Sophomore forward] Katy Wade had some big blocks and some big defensive boards,” she said. “Claire Faucher did a great job of hitting those wide-open shots, and I thought [junior guard-forward] Kelly Marchant did a great job of getting to the rim. It was really a collective effort of three to five players that really ignited the comeback.
“I am so proud of the heart, composure and the courage the team had to come back from a 20-point deficit.”
Box score:
1st 2nd Total
Montana St. 41 21 62
Portland St. 26 43 69