Premature ending

After exceeding expectations throughout the year, the Vikings’ season likely came to a disappointing end Friday, as Montana overpowered Portland State 94-80. The victory advances the host Grizzlies to the Big Sky Tournament championship game, where they will take on Montana State with an NCAA Tournament berth on the line.

Despite another fine performance by sophomore point guard Claire Faucher and a well-played first half that included a nine-point lead, an inexperienced and fatigued Vikings (22-9) squad eventually succumbed to the Grizzlies (24-6) in a game that set the Big Sky Conference Tournament record for most points scored with 174 combined.

“Well, what a basketball game. That’s two great teams going at it,” said Portland State head coach Sherri Murrell.

For much of the game, the two premier guards in the conference-Faucher and Montana junior guard Mandy Morales-each carried the load for their respective teams. Faucher nearly earned her third consecutive triple-double, scoring 27 points, grabbing six rebounds, and dishing out seven assists. Morales, who joined Faucher on the All- Conference team, ended the night with 31 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists.

“It was a point-guard-to-point-guard matchup in the first half. They weren’t stopping anything and we weren’t stopping anything,” Murrell said.

Although they managed to score 49 points in the first half, the Vikings entered the break with a slim one-point advantage, before a veteran Grizzlies squad pulled away in the second stanza. Montana shot nearly 50 percent from the field, hit 8 of 16 three-point attempts, and hit 24 of 25 free throw attempts to ice the game down the stretch.

“In the second half, the intentional foul changed a lot of things. We lost our concentration. When we lost our concentration, we didn’t boxout and we had some bad mismatches and bad errors,” Murrell said.

Even though the disappointing defeat likely ends their season, unless they receive an National Invitation Tournament bid, Viking fans should take solace in the overachieving performance of this young, promising squad.

Portland State will return its entire roster with the exception of senior guard Delaney Conway, and should the young nucleus of Kelli Valentine, Kelly Marchant, Lexi Bishop, and Claire Faucher continue to improve, the Vikings are likely to compete for future Big Sky championships. The Vikings’ 23 victories is the most in school history, and this year’s team also earned their best finish in Big Sky play.

“My freshman year we went 3-24. There was no intimidation factor playing Portland State. That’s changed. No one will ever walk into our place again thinking they have the game in hand,” Conway said following her last game in a Vikings uniform. While the loss drops the Vikings out of contention for a NCAA Tournament appearance, the Vikings surprisingly successful season could continue with a potential berth in the Women’s NIT. The field for that tournament will be announced early next week.

“Well, I don’t think anyone thought Portland State would come out and have a year like this,” Faucher said. “People are going to know about us and respect us, and that was the goal all along. Next year there are going to be battles. No one is going to step in our gym expecting to get a win.”