Box Score (PDF)  |  Box Score (HTML)  |  2011 Big Sky Tournament Bracket (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. – The pieces came together for the Portland State women's basketball team to win its first-ever Big Sky Conference regular season title on Saturday as the Vikings defeated visiting Montana State and Northern Colorado lost at Idaho State.

The 65-63 victory capped an emotional senior day for Portland State's four seniors, Lexi Bishop, Courtney Cremer, Kelly Marchant and Kelli Valentine. The four have been a part of PSU's most successful era at the NCAA Division I level, producing 82 wins and reaching the postseason in each of the last two years. But, they, along with Head Coach Sherri Murrell, knew there was one thing missing – a conference regular season championship.

Many in attendance at the Stott Center on Saturday knew by the end of halftime that UNC had lost, 69-61, but the Vikings made up their minds before the game that they didn't want to know the score until their contest was over. They rushed the court after fending off a pesky Montana State squad, then learned via the public address system that they were indeed Big Sky champions.

"The emotions after the game were that we had won the game. I didn't know that Northern Colorado had lost because I didn't want anybody to tell me and then when our Associate Athletic Director Zack Wallace came up to me and told me, it was just amazing," said Murrell, minutes after cutting down the nets.

Portland State's victory earned them them the right to host next weeks Big Sky tournament, March 10-12. The Vikings will enter as the top seed.

PSU held a seven-point advantage at the break and went up 52-43 with 12:59 to go after Valentine made two free throws. But, the Bobcats sensed that their chance at the title was slipping away and began to mount a comeback.

A 15-7 run by Montana State brought them within a point, 59-58, at the 6:17 mark and it was a defensive battle from there.

The Bobcats eventually rallied to tie the game up, 63-63, with 12 seconds remaining on a Ausha Cole jumper from the left wing. Vikings point guard Eryn Jones, who led all scorers with 23 points, brought the ball up and quickly penetrated down the right side of the key, drawing a foul that sent her to the line with four seconds left. Jones made both free throws and the Bobcats missed a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending the Stott Center crowd into a wild celebration.

Said Murrel: "I knew that we had to take care of this first and let fate take care of the rest and it happened. Composure has really been the key for us against some of these top teams. We also had the ball in the right hands with Eryn Jones. She is the one that needed to have the ball in her hands at the end of the game and then we had our best defensive player (Bishop) defending their best player to make a stop there at the end."

Two nights after missing all five of her 3-point attempts, Jones came out and made three over the first 20 minutes on her way to 15 first half points.

Back-to-back 3s by the junior guard gave Portland State a 20-10 lead with 9:47 until the half, before Montana State answered with seven straight points. The Vikings didn't let the Bobcats hang around for long, though, as a Jones' three-pointer with 2:09 left put the Vikings up 33-22. Just over 30 seconds later, Jones made a pair of free throws, giving PSU its biggest lead, 37-24.

PSU eventually went into halftime up 37-30.

The Vikings (19-10, 12-4 Big Sky) had just two players reach double-digits, with Valentine adding 12, but they outrebounded the Bobcats, 38-33, as Valentine and Courtney VanBrocklin both pulled down a game-high 10 boards.

Cremer played a huge 15 minutes for the Vikings, finishing with nine points and a steal while shooting 4 of 6 from the field. She scored five of her points early in the second period, including nailing a clutch 3-pointer, and her only rebound came on a ball she tipped out to Jones, who promptly sank a shot from behind the arc to make it 50-41.

Montana State (17-13, 11-5 Big Sky) had four players score in double-figures, including a team-high 17 points by Sarah Balian.

NOTES: With Northern Colorado losing it meant that the winner of the PSU-MSU game would be crowned champs ... Portland State closed the season on a six-game winning streak and also won 11 of its final 12 ... the Viks were 13-1 at the Stott Center this season, including 8-0 in Big Sky games ... Bishop and Valentine tied the Big Sky career record for games played (124) on Saturday ... Bishop, Jones and Valentine all had two steals ... Stephanie Egwuatu added seven rebounds off the bench for the Viks ... all-session and single session tickets for the Big Sky Conference tournament will go on sale to the public at 10 am on Monday, March 7th ... quarterfinal games will be on Thursday night, with the semis of Friday. The championship contest will be on Saturday afternoon and televised by Altitude. Check GoViks.com tomorrow for exact times ... UNC earned the second seed, followed by Montana State, Montana, Idaho State and Eastern Washington.