Vikings hope to stay in Big Sky top tier by beating conference rival bears
With Kate Lanz in the forefront, the Portland State women’s basketball team is set to take on the Northern Colorado Bears this Thursday. The Vikings are coming off of back-to-back road wins against Northern Arizona and Weber State. Both games highlighted Lanz’ shooting and freshman forward Keaton McFadden as a key rebounder.
The Bears are 10-6, 2-1 in conference,―the same conference standings as the Vikings. The Bears come into the game off a win against Sacramento State. The team is led by sophomore guard D’Shara Strange, with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
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Vikings hope to stay in Big Sky top tier by beating conference rival bears
With Kate Lanz in the forefront, the Portland State women’s basketball team is set to take on the Northern Colorado Bears this Thursday. The Vikings are coming off of back-to-back road wins against Northern Arizona and Weber State. Both games highlighted Lanz’ shooting and freshman forward Keaton McFadden as a key rebounder.
The Bears are 10-6, 2-1 in conference,―the same conference standings as the Vikings. The Bears come into the game off a win against Sacramento State. The team is led by sophomore guard D’Shara Strange, with 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Karl Kuchs / Vanguard StaffMaking the difference: Sophomore Keaton Mcfadden looks for a shot. Courtney Van Brocklin (upper right) and Kate Lanz (lower right) move the ball across the court. The Vikings are tied with the Bears in the Big Sky conference.
Playing Sac State, a team that’s known for its signature fast-paced offensive, the Bears relied heavily on rebounding to keep second chance shots from falling for the Hornets, and with that, the Bears secured a 10-point victory.
The Bears bring Strange and junior forward Lauren Oosdkye to the Stott Center as their leading scorers―Strange with a 14.5 average and Oosdyke with 11.6 points.
“Northern Colorado is a really good team; they have great guard players. If our guards really are on and playing their best, we can win this. We definitely need players like Keaton [McFadden] and some of the bench players to step up. We have to win at home, that’s crucial,” said head coach Sherri Murrell.
Regarding the keys to the game, Lanz said, “Our biggest focus this week is playing consistent; we’ve had good first halves and second, but we haven’t put both halves together.”
Northern Colorado and Portland State split last year’s wins. Murrell said the competition is just as hard as last season and every game is important even early on in the season.
“This conference is so good from top to bottom. It’s not going to be an easy run, hopefully it will be us that wins [the conference], but whoever does will probably have four or five losses. It’s going to be a tough go about, and it’s important for us to go into each game and play into the abilities we have,” Murrell said.
