Women’s basketball – back to their old routine
Women’s basketball – back to their old routine
The winning streak is over and the women’s basketball team is losing once again
Lisa Glichrist
Unfortunately, the Portland State women’s basketball team didn’t have the same success this week as they did last week. Playing at home, the Viks were hoping to continue on their three-game winning streak, but instead came away with a two-game losing streak.
The Viks hosted the Idaho State Bengals (18-6, 10-2) last Thursday night and suffered a 30-point home court loss 77-44.
Portland State’s second-leading scorer, junior starter Heidi Stuart, didn’t get to play more than five minutes at the start of the game, and mostly likely those will be her last for the season.
While driving to the hoop, Stuart suffered a left knee injury, and senior Jane Gowans stepped in to take Stuart’s free throws, pulling the Vikings within two points at 12-10. Portland State never got any closer.
Both team had only two players in double digits. Sophomore forward Jenna Washington came off the bench led the Vikings with 11 points in the loss and senior forward Sarah Hedgepeth posted 10 and added eight rebounds onto her PSU career rebounding record.
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For the Bengals, freshman forward, Molly Hays had 11 points and seven rebounds, while senior guard Lindy Whitley added 10. Two other Bengals scored nine.
The Bengals out-rebounded Portland State, 51-23, and shot 44.6 percent from the field, 36.0 percent from the three-point range and 77.8 percent from the foul line, holding PSU to 31.5 percent from the floor, 0.0 percent from the three-point range and 71.4 percent from the charity strip. The loss put the Vikings in sixth place, tied with Montana State for the final Big Sky playoff spot.
Saturday night the Vikings played their last home game of the season against Weber State, and once again couldn’t pull off a win. To break the close game and defeat Portland State, the Weber State Wildcats made 15-of-20 second-half free throws expanding their lead to 53-43.
The Vikings played without the help of their big time scorer, Heidi Stuart, and could have used her assistance. The Vikings took a blow in their search for the final spot in the 2004 Women’s Big Sky Championship, falling to seventh place, one game behind Montana State. The Wildcats have now won five straight and are guaranteed to finish third in the conference. Both teams had a hard time shooting the ball. The Wildcats shot 34.7 percent holding the Viks to only 32.8 percent from the floor. Weber State hit 16-of-24 and PSU made 3-of-8. Never holding the lead in the game, but trailing no more than 11 points the seniors finished out their last home game ever. Sarah Hedgepeth led the Viks with 14 points and 8 rebounds and Tiffany Ward had double figures added 10 for the Viks. Portland State finished their home schedule with 3-10, 1-6 in conference play. Portland State will finish out the regular season on the road with a pair of games against the Montana State Bobcats on Thursday and the Montana Lady Griz on Saturday.
