Online exclusive: Women’s basketball heads south to face UC Santa Barbara

After suffering a tough loss Sunday to the University of Washington, Portland State women’s basketball looks to earn its first win of the regular season as the Vikings (0-1) travel to Anaheim, Calif., Thursday to face UC Santa Barbara (0-2).

The Vikings have played UC Santa Barbara early in the season in the past and have only seen success at home. In the last three meetings, the home team has walked off the court victorious.

Both teams head into Thursday chasing their first win of the season. The Gauchos opened the season with a loss to Pepperdine on Friday and went on to drop a game to UCLA on Sunday.

The Vikings have put Sunday’s close loss to Washington behind them and are now preparing for the upcoming weeks of road games, including the Thanksgiving-weekend Colliers Classic.

Portland State head coach Sherri Murrell knows that putting a loss in the past is best for the team to move on and be successful for the remainder of the season.

“We stress just trying to win the day,” Murrell said. “Of course we are upset about the loss, but it is most important to just go out there and try to win the next game. It would have been nice to defeat a Pac-10 opponent, but we knew it would be tough.”

The loss to Washington may been what the Viks needed to know what it will take to make another run at winning the Big Sky Conference title this season. The Viks have a tough remaining schedule including Thursday’s game, but it will help test them, especially on the road.

UC Santa Barbara finished last season 15-17 and placed fifth in the Big West Conference. The Gauchos return two dominant starters from last season, but also lost seven players, including five seniors from last year’s squad.

The two players that will need to be slowed down for a Viking win this week will be Emilie Johnson and Mekia Valentine. Both players made the All-Big West team last year and had some incredible stats to back it up.

Johnson averaged 13.8 points per game during the regular season and Valentine was infamous for her blocked shots in the paint. Valentine averaged four blocks per game and had 120 on the season to go along with 12 double-doubles she earned last season.

This game will be no easy task, but Portland State has enough talent in the backcourt to give UC Santa Barbara some trouble. The Viks have excellent three-point shooters, with Eryn Jones, Lexi Bishop and a now-comfortable Courtney VanBrocklin providing spark.

The only thing left to do though is make sure everyone is on top of their game and feeling confident. Murrell pointed out that the early-game jitters were what held them back from defeating Washington in the closing seconds.

“We need to get rid of our early-season jitters,” Murrell said. “Our defense looked great, but the nervousness is what threw off our shooting down the stretch.”

Things will likely calm down a bit for the Vikings now that everyone has had a taste of game play. The shooting needs to be on target for Portland State to leave California with a win, and guards Jones and Kelly Marchant will likely be key for the team’s three-point shooting.

Both players shot exceptionally well from behind the arc last year, with Jones making 38.8 percent of her three-pointers and Marchant trailing just behind with a 35.5 percent success rate.

Along with individual success is the idea of playing as one team that coach Murrell has instated. With a very talented squad this year, including four seniors, she believes that many different players could step up to help the team win on any given night.

VanBrocklin made her official debut as a Viking on Sunday and ended up being the spark that put Portland State back into a game that seemed to be out of its control from the start.

The Vikings’ schedule for the next 10 games has them on the road for seven and should give the coaches a good sense of how the team is playing under pressure. Murrell is aware of the task that is ahead of the Viks during these next few weeks and feels it will be a much-needed challenge.

“It will be tough playing seven of 10 games on the road, but our main goal is to be playing in March,” Murrell said. “We did not play up to our potential last year, but we finished strong and won the championship.”

The Gauchos will prove to be a tough opponent inside for the Vikings, but should give the team a chance to show off their long-range shooting capabilities and give UC Santa Barbara a tough new defensive showing. ?