Vikings fall to Eastern Washington

The Portland State women’s basketball team fell in their second straight loss, this time against the Eastern Washington Eagles. The Vikings gave up a rough 21 turnovers to give the Eagles the chance to win the game. The eagles capitalized and put the game away 75-67. The gritty game ended in multiple missed shots and turnovers by the Vikings, and dropped the Vikings to 11-7, 3-3 in the Big Sky.

The game was not one for the record books in terms of completed plays. Both teams struggled back and forth to gain momentum in the first half. The home team mishandled the ball in 11 turnovers in the first half alone. Despite the turnovers, the Vikings were able to capitalize on some Eastern defensive mistakes early on in the half, and went into the locker room up 28-27.

“We didn’t execute our press breaks,” head coach Sherri Murrell said. “We have a press break that, when we ran it, it was good, and when we didn’t run it we just had some mental lapses, and when we had those mental lapses Eastern really jumped on us and made points.”

Back-and-forth scoring with no true runs was the name of the game in the second half as well―with more mistakes than expected from the two teams. Late in the second half, the Vikings looked like they had finally found their rhythm and took a five-point lead off a four point play from senior Stephanie Egwuatu. The forward was fouled on a good basket and sunk a pair of free throws.

But the home team had another thing coming. Eagles star shooter Brianne Ryan scored a basket from beyond the arc putting the visiting team ahead 65-63.

“When you’re up by five with seven minutes to go, you should be a better team than that on the court,” Murrell said.

Portland State point guard Eryn Jones responded to Ryan with a basket of her own, but it was too late for the Vikings. The Eagles went on to make a six-point run, concluding the game in their favor.

Senior forward Shauneice Samms, who recorded a key block late in the second half, said the team was unable to complete plays, especially in the end.

“We know each other pretty well, so finding each other isn’t hard,” Samms said. “It’s just we have to keep executing and keep going hard…[that] is something we need to work on.”

The game was a big one for seniors Samms and Egwautu. Samms defensive game was on, with two blocks, and five rebounds. Offensively, she grabbed 13 points. Egwuatu grabbed seven points, a block and three rebounds in just 13 minutes of play.

Murell said that despite hot performances off the bench, such as Egwuatu’s run late in the second half and Samms overall game, the Vikings still need to be able to get the starters open to win.

“That was huge to have Stephanie come in and do a good job like that,” Murrell said. “It helped us, and helped us to get that run going. We just need to get our starters in there, Eryn Jones is getting pushed around and we’re allowing that physicality so that’s been tough on her. She’s not getting her shots in she’s used to.”

Despite the coverage, Jones did manage to pull down eight points. This put her 10th in the Portland State record books in total career points with 1,206. Beside Jones, regular season shooting leader sophomore guard Kate Lanz had 18 points.

Courtney VanBrocklin also put in a top offensive performance, recording 13 points and a pair of assists.

Murell said the goal now is focus.

“I don’t know where the focus is dropping off,” Murrell said. “but it’s dropping off greatly. We’re a team that when we get up by five that’s when we need to work, and we just threw everything away.”

The Vikings will need to find their focus next week as they are slated to take on the Montanas on the road. Currently Montana State is 5-2 in conference and Montana is 4-2. The Vikings need to secure wins to end their losing streak, and move them out of being one of the bottom four teams in the standings.

The Montana State game will be held on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. and the Montana game at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Both games can be followed on goviks.com.