With a tremendous team effort on both ends of the floor, the Portland State women’s basketball team kicked off their regular season with a 55-35 win over non-conference competitor George Fox University.
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On fire: The women’s basketball team got off to a great start in the Stott Center.
Junior forward Angela Misa led the way for the Vikings, pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds to go along with four steals and one block. Misa and the rest of the Vikings defense forced 22 turnovers overall and forced the Bruins to settle for deep outside shots for large portions of the game.
Portland State took the lead early and stayed ahead the rest of the way. They went into the locker room up 29-16, capped by a three-pointer from senior guard Karley Lampman, and then kept that momentum going throughout the second half.
“We played really well, defensively,” head coach Sherri Murrell said. “I was really pleased with how we handled the pressure [on offense], but our defense was the best I’ve seen in I don’t know how many years.”
Faced with that full court press by George Fox, senior point guard Courtney
VanBrocklin took control. She kept the Viking offense in rhythm and never let the Bruins disrupt the team’s game plan, finishing with 13 points and three assists.
“We worked a lot on it over the week in practice, on how to beat the full court press,”
VanBrocklin said. “Basically, once we beat it, we needed to make sure we didn’t rush into our shot—we put it down and ran our plays, and we got a couple shots that way.”
The leadership of Portland State’s seniors also played a big role in the win. Lampman chipped in eight points and added three steals.
“It’s important for us [seniors] to stay calm, because if we’re not staying calm then no one is going to stay calm,” VanBrocklin said.
With the older players leading by example, Murrell said the younger players have begun to pick up the cause, and team chemistry has been a major factor in the Vikings’ solid play thus far.
The team will now get ready to hit the road, to take on the University of Oregon in Eugene. While the matchup will present new challenges for Portland State, Murrell said that the two teams run a similar offense.
“I am kind of happy we got pressed the whole game, because that is what Oregon does,” Murrell said. “They are the type of team that will say, ‘If you get 100 points, we want 105,’ so we have to make sure that we have good legs under us. This is going to be a track meet, and we need to finish well.”
The Vikings face Oregon tonight at 7 p.m. A live stream video is available by going to goviks.com and clicking on the Oregon game information.