The Portland State women’s basketball team opens up the second round of conference play this weekend against the University of Montana and Montana State University. The Vikings took a tough loss last Thursday when they fell in overtime to Southern Utah University. They now sit in ninth place in the Big Sky Conference; the top seven seeds are eligible for tournament play.
The Vikings, who are now 9-10 overall and 3-7 in conference, have seen new leaders emerge this season. Freshman guard Emily Easom had her first career start against Southern Utah and scored a career-high 12 points. Easom is joined by sophomore guard Allison Greene, who is steadily establishing herself as the team’s most dangerous offensive threat and who has registered double-digit scoring performances in each of her last three games.
Senior guard Courtney VanBrocklin rounds out the attack, and led the Vikings in scoring in their first set of games against Montana and Montana State earlier this month. On the defensive end, junior forward Angela Misa leads the team in rebounding and blocks, while Greene and junior forward Allie Brock have each stepped up their game on that end of the floor.
Montana is coming off a gritty victory against winless Weber State University on Saturday. The win—paired with a Montana State loss—moved the Lady Griz into a tie for first place with their in-state rivals. They are led offensively by senior guard Kenzie De Boer and senior forward Katie Baker. De Boer currently leads the team in points per game, and Baker was Montana’s top scorer in their last two contests. Baker is also a key post player, registering a team-high in rebounds against Idaho State University.
After the Lady Griz, the Vikings face the Montana State Bobcats, who are 14-5 overall and 8-2 in conference. Their eight-game conference winning streak came to an end last Saturday after a 63-55 loss to Idaho State. They will host Eastern Washington University tonight prior to facing Portland State.
The three teams come into the weekend with different motivations—the Montana schools hope to hold onto their top spots in the conference, while the Vikings will try to inch back into tournament eligibility. Tipoff for Thursday’s matchup is slated for 6 p.m., with the Saturday game set to begin at 1 p.m. Live stats will be available on goviks.com.