Fond farewell

For seniors Audrey Grant, Kelsey Kahle and Katia Hadj-Hamou, Saturday’s win over Eastern Washington was a fitting finale to their tenure at the Stott Center.

All three players got on the scoreboard as the Vikings beat the Eagles 72-60, extending their win streak to six and keeping them locked in a first-place conference tie with Montana, also at 13-1 in Big Sky play.

Kahle scored 23 points and Hadj-Hamou added 12 as the two starting seniors led their team to its 20th victory of the season, marking the first time that Portland State has achieved two 20-win seasons in a row since entering the Division I level.

Grant, a reserve player, chipped in two points and one offensive rebound in seven minutes of action off the bench.

“It was absolutely fun to watch [the seniors] play,” said head coach Sherri Murrell.

“With the team winning 20 [games] on the season, and all the seniors getting in and getting on the board, it all worked out well.”

The Vikings and the 1,079 fans at the Stott Center had to wait to celebrate, though, as the Eagles pushed out to an early 9-2 lead.

Spurred on by Kahle and guard Claire Faucher, the Vikings rattled off an 11-4 run to tie the game at 13 with just over 13 minutes to play in the first period.

From there, the two teams traded leads until the Vikings were able to pull away ever so slightly to a slim 36-30 advantage heading into halftime.

In the second half, the Vikings defense toughened up and presented problems for the visiting Eagles.

All season the squad has looked to Kahle to set the defensive tone and the last home game was no exception, as the senior forward from Aurora, Ore., clamped down on her mark and forced the Eagles into bad shots.

“The defense tonight was solid,” Murrell said. “We did what we needed to do and shut down their big scorers. Kelsey did a fantastic job tonight of denying passes and pushing them out from the post.”

As the Eagles’ attack faltered, the Vikings’ offense surged, with the home team pushing the lead out to as much as 18 points with a little over two minutes left in the game.

The three seniors were met with a warm ovation as they were substituted out of the game in the final minutes of action.

The victory was a must for the Vikings, who are locked in a fierce tug-of-war match with Montana for the right to host the Big Sky Conference Tournament. The team travels to Montana this week to take on Montana State on Thursday, and the Lady Griz on Saturday.

“This was a huge win for us,” Murrell said. “We needed to win or we’d be out of the race for first. Now, we’re just looking ahead to Montana.”