The Vikings are traveling a Rough Road to Big Sky

When the rest of Portland State’s students were enjoying their well-deserved holiday break, the Vikings basketball teams have been fighting hard to make sure they get a chance to acquire a Big Sky Championship this year. Both the men and women’s teams have been and playing hard to achieve their goal, but have had many obstacles while on the road throughout this winter break.

The Women’s team has been having a tough season especially. With a not-so-great record, an injured player and a very tough season. The Viks have been fighting very hard to get a chance at the Big Sky championship but the way things are going thus far, it may be hard for the Viks to come out on top of their game. They will have to work extremely hard in the next few months especially this week since they will be facing their rival Pilots from U of P in their next game.

Before they came back home to take on the Broncos, the Vikings were having a tough time competing against Illinois State and Illinois Chicago. The Viks first traveled to Normal, IL, to face the Redbirds of Illinois State. The Redbirds caused the Viks to have their worst game of the season, with a season low of 38 points. The Redbirds won against the Vikings with a score of 62 – 38.

The PSU women then went to face Illinois-Chicago to face another challenging team. The Flames only got hotter as the game progressed and the Viks couldn’t cool them off as they left Chicago with another loss, 72 – 64.

In addition, this past Friday, the Viks suffered yet another defeat as they went to Malibu to face the Pepperdine Waves. The Viks gave the waves a run for their money throughout the game. The Vikings put up a very good fight considering that senior forward Sarah Hedgepeth was sitting on the sidelines with an injury to her left wrist. The injury has put her out of commission for a few weeks and the game against Malibu was the first game that she had missed since she started her Basketball Career at PSU.

Despite the poor win/loss record, fans cannot ignore the accomplishments of our Lady Viks. Senior forward, Hedgepeth, was honored for scoring her Thousandth point during their game against Illinois-Chicago. Hedgepeth is the 12th woman to score over 1000 points for the Vikings and she is only the fourth player to gain over 700 rebounds for Portland State. If she keeps up the good work she’ll break a few records for sure.

Fans wish Hedgepeth a speedy recovery and also wish the Vikings luck as their next game is against their rivals from the University of Portland, which was rescheduled because of impending weather conditions but the fans wish them all of the best at their next game against the Pilots that has been scheduled to take place on January 20, at 7 p.m.