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LARAMIE, Wyo. – Portland State's season came to an abrupt end on Wednesday night with a 79-44 loss at Wyoming in the first round of the WNIT.

Wyoming's two-headed monster of Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Aubrey Vandiver and fellow first team all-leaguer Hillary Carlson combined for 46 points and 18 rebounds, and Chaundra Sewell added 16 points and nine rebounds as the Cowgirls handed Portland State its worst defeat of the year.

Portland State hung with the Cowgirls for the first ten minutes of the game, but struggled to find the hoop the rest of the first period and the Cowgirls made them pay.

The Vikings knew coming into the game that Wyoming had a huge home court advantage at Arena Auditorium and they experienced it first hand as the 2,914 in attendance made plenty of noise when the Cowgirls used a big run over the final part of the opening period to effectively take control.

"We've played in this type of atmosphere before at Montana, but we just didn't have the energy or the legs to accomplish what we wanted to," said Vikings Head Coach Sherri Murrell.

Portland State's first two baskets came via three-pointers from Courtney VanBrocklin and Lexi Bishop. When Bishop hit hers' just under two minutes into the contest, the game was tied at 6-6. After the Cowgirls scored three straight points on free throws, a VanBrocklin layup with 11:19 until half made it 9-8. But Wyoming closed on a 26-8 run to go into halftime with a 35-16 lead.

Not much went right for the Vikings, who shot a season-low 25.4 percent, making just 16 of their 63 shots. PSU missed numerous attempts from close range, especially in the first half when the Cowgirls made their run.

"In the beginning we were just playing tentative to not get our shot blocked," Murrell said. "So we adjusted our shots in the first half, especially over the first ten minutes."

The Vikings didn't learn their fate for the WNIT until 8:30 p.m. Monday night and less than 24 hours they were on a plane to Denver. They got into Laramie after midnight last night and many players had to take finals in the hotel this morning. It all added up to a tired team that didn't play the way that earned them the Big Sky Conference regular season title.

"I'm not making excuses, but bottom line is we were just tired and we still let the effects of Saturday's loss (to Montana) kill us. Being on the road so fast didn't help either."

VanBrocklin led Portland State with 11 points, while Stephanie Egwuatu scored a career-high nine points and also pulled down six rebounds.

Carlson paced the Cowgirls with 26 points and also had seven boards, and Vandiver finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds for her 13th double-double of the year.

The Vikings, who were making their third straight postseason appearance, finished the year at 20-12.

Wyoming (23-8) advances to the second round, where they will host Oklahoma State on Monday.

NOTES: Seniors Courtney Cremer, Kelly Marchant, Kelli Valentine and Bishop all played their last games for PSU. They went 83-46 in their careers ... VanBrocklin led PSU with three steals ... six of VanBrocklin's 11 points came over the final 1:45 of the game ...  this was the first meeting between the two schools since Jan. 20, 1989. Wyoming leads the all-time series 4-2, having won the last four contests ... the Vikings registered their third 20-win season under Murrell ... PSU held Wyoming to just 2 of 20 (10%) shooting from 3-point range.