Despite controlling the first half, the Portland State women’s basketball team was knocked off by the Eastern Washington Eagles Saturday night 64-61, bringing PSU’s record to 6-11, 0-4.
PSU looked to have regained its footing as it dominated the first half of play, leading by as many as 17. The Eagles seemed to have no answer as the Vikings shot a commanding 41.2 percent from the floor and an impressive 46.2 percent from three-point land.
The Vikings were able to maintain their lead throughout the first half and looked to have a stranglehold on the Eagles, who struggled to makes their shots fall, hitting just 36 percent from the field. Portland State took a 38-26 lead into the locker room at half time.
The second half proved not to be as kind to the Vikings, as they saw their lead slowly diminish to just one point. Eastern Washington eventually overtook the Vikings with a score of 46-45 and from that point, it was a game of back-and-forths with both teams playing catch-up.
In the end, the Vikings made some costly mistakes. Along with poor shooting, those errors kept them from getting back in the game. The final score was 64-61 in favor of EWU, which improved its field-goal percentage to 52 percent.
Helping the Vikings in their effort was Nikki Petticrew who had 14 points to lead the Vikings, all of which came in the first half. Krishelle Jesse also came up big to tie her season high with 12 points, three of those points coming from behind the three-point line.
On the defensive end for the Vikings were Staci Kleier, Sarah Hedgepeth and Niki Sadowski, who came down with 11, 10 and nine rebounds respectively.
However, it was Eastern Washington’s defense that prevailed, coming away with twice as many steals as the Vikings (12-6).
After a long hard road stand of four games, the loss was a disappointing one for Portland State. This was the team’s first home game at the Stott Center.
All the Vikings can do now is look forward to next week when they will face Idaho State at the Stott Center.
“It’s a disparity,” head coach George Wolfe said of PSU’s second-half slide. “We let up defensively, we gotta continue to work hard. We gotta play 40
minutes.”
The Vikings will host Idaho State Friday night, and Weber State Saturday night. Both games will be held at the Stott Center at 7:05 p.m.