Wednesday night, the Portland State women’s basketball team traveled to San Luis Obispo, Calif. to take on the Cal Poly Mustangs (8-14). It was to be an ill-fated night however, as the Vikings fell to the Mustangs, 69-52.
Cal Poly ended the first half leading by 10 points over the Vikings, who shot just 26.7 percent from the field and were one for six from three-point land. The Mustangs shot at 46.4 percent from the field and were three for five from behind the three-point line, which gave them a 37-27 advantage heading into the locker room.
The second half didn’t provide much solace for the Vikings as Cal Poly only added to its lead. The Vikings did improve their field-goal percentage to 31.0 percent, but it wasn’t enough as the Mustangs converted 10 of 10 free throws in the final half to help them secure the win.
The Mustangs were able to outshoot and out-rebound the Vikings. Cal Poly had 46 rebounds to just 32 for the Portland State and shot at 43.1 percent from the field, 66.7 percent from three-point land and 93.8 percent from the free-throw line for the game.
Sarah Hedgepeth led the Vikings with 11 points and nine rebounds. Following closely were Staci Kleier and Niki Sadowski, who each had 10 points for Portland State.
The Mustangs had four players in double digits, including Heather Journey who recorded a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Odessa Jenkins added seven assists to her 12 points to help the Mustangs pull out the win.
After their stint in California, the Vikings headed to Cheney, Wash. to take on the Eastern Washington Eagles (8-15, 3-7). An earlier meeting between the two teams resulted in a 64-61 loss for the Vikings at the Peter W. Stott Center.
Neither team dominated this meeting, as the lead was exchanged several times. The best effort for the Vikings came on a 9-0 run with just under seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Eagles followed with a 5-0, which left the Vikings in the lead at 25-22 at the half.
Eastern Washington came out firing in the second half and took the lead after an 8-0 run. The Vikings weren’t able to catch the Eagles, who never relinquished the lead and took the win 53-44.
Heidi Stuart and Nikki Petticrew came up with 15 and 13 points respectively on the night to lead the Vikings. Hedgepeth also helped out, grabbing five rebounds.
For the Eagles, Allie Bailey and Stephanie Mckinney had 14 and 12 points respectively. Molly Carlson was able to pull down eight rebounds to help lead the Mustangs to the win.
With the two losses, Portland State’s record fell to 10-15 overall and 4-7 in the Big Sky Conference which ties them with Eastern Washington for fifth place.
This Saturday the Vikings will head to Pocatello, Idaho and will look to take down the Idaho State Bengals, who currently sit two games behind the Vikings in conference play.