Last Friday night, the Portland State women’s basketball team played the first game of the new season in an exhibition at home against the Warner Pacific College Knights.
Adam wickham/VANGUARD STAFf
The Portland state women’s basketball team needed about three quarters to find their form in the first matchup of 2012–13, against Warner Pacific College. The Vikings eventually found the right formula, rolling to a 75–45 win.
The Vikings started out slowly, remaining scoreless for almost five minutes until junior forward Keaton McFadden finally sunk the team’s first basket. The game was neck-and-neck throughout the first half, with seven lead changes before the break. PSU carried a
slim 29-27 lead into the
locker room.
The second half was an entirely different story. The Vikings managed to stretch the lead to six with a little more than a quarter to play, then went on a furious 28-3 run that left the Knights reeling. Warner Pacific never recovered, and PSU cruised to a victory by a score of 75-45.
The dramatic shift in the quality of play to close the game was the result of a team effort. After shooting only 30 percent in the first half, the Vikings improved to just under 47 percent in the second. They also out-rebounded the Knights 56-37 for the game, and scored 22 points off turnovers to the Knights’ five. Sophomore forward Mikaela Rivard led the Vikings in scoring with 13 points, followed by senior guard Karley Lampman with 11 points.
McFadden was the team’s most active player on the glass, finishing with 10 rebounds, while senior guard Courtney VanBrocklin and junior forward Angela Misa—a recent transfer from Oregon State University—contributed
nine apiece.
The win was an excellent way to kick off the 2012–13 campaign for the Vikings, who ended last year with a 15-14 record, leaving them in a tie for sixth place in the Big Sky Conference. PSU will be at home again on Nov. 9, when they go up against George Fox University at 6 p.m. in the Stott Center.