Women’s basketball suffers two close losses

For the Portland State women’s basketball team, this season doesn’t seem to follow any specific pattern-a fact that was most evident this weekend as the Vikings took two unfortunate losses on the road.

Portland State suffered their first conference loss to Northern Colorado, 72′-68, on Thursday, and then followed it with another on Saturday to Northern Arizona, 86′-80. The pair of losses puts Portland State at 9′-9 on the season, and 3′-2 in conference.

Thursday’s four-point loss to Northern Colorado was unusual for a Vikings squad that had beaten the Bears in every meeting last season.

The Vikings started the game ahead, going up by 10 points over the Bears 9:39 into the first half. However, the game did not have a definite outcome until late in the second half.

Portland State went into the break down 27′-25, but regained the advantage out of the gate in the second half’ with a long three by senior guard Claire Faucher. The two teams continued to split the lead until just under three minutes left in the game, when the score was tied at 62. From there, the Bears went on to seal their victory with their final 10 points.

‘The bottom line is we did not play great defense,’ coach Sherri Murrell said of both games. ‘Our offense kept us in the game, but we didn’t sustain defensive effort through both halves.’

Portland State saw high scoring from Faucher, who put up 19 points, and senior forward Erin Yankus, who tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.

Though four Portland State players shot in double digits, Northern Colorado managed to best them with strong defensive play and led in rebounds and steals. Kaisha Brown and Whitley Cox spearheaded the Northern Colorado offense, together accounting for 43 points.

Following the loss, The Vikings continued the road trip and faced the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Saturday night. Portland State again took an unexpected close loss in a game in which they had the lead for much of the first half and early into the second.

The Vikings had shot trouble throughout the game and went only 38.9 percent from the field. Despite the low percentage, they managed to hold the Lumberjacks off until 14:10 was left on the clock. From then on, the game, and lead, belonged to Northern Arizona.

Six Viks players scored in double digits on Saturday, and forward Katy Wade led the defense with eight rebounds and two blocked shots. As in Thursday’s matchup, Faucher led Portland State with 16 points.

After the tough weekend, the Vikings return home to play four games in the Park Blocks, starting with a matchup against Weber State at 7 p.m. on Friday.

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Scored by period’ ‘ ‘ 1st’ ‘ ‘ 2nd’ ‘ ‘ Total

Thursday
Portland State’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 25’ ‘ ‘ 43’ ‘ ‘ 68’ ‘ ‘
Northern Colorado’ ‘ ‘ ‘ 27’ ‘ ‘ 45’ ‘ ‘ 72

Saturday
Portland State’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ 35’ ‘ ‘ 45’ ‘ ‘ 80
Northern Arizona’ ‘ ‘ ‘ 31’ ‘ ‘ 55’ ‘ ‘ 86

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