Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML)
BERKELEY, Calif. – Kelli Valentine matched a career-high with 24 points and
Courtney VanBrocklin tallied a double-double as Portland State led wire-to-wire in a 83-76 victory over Tulane at the Colliers International Classic on Saturday afternoon.
The Vikings (3-1) defeated a talented Tulane squad that entered the game 4-0 and ranked just outside the USA Today ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll, and now advance to face host California for the tourney title tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
Portland State scored the first seven points of the game and went into halftime with a 41-30 lead.
In the second period, a jumper by Valentine at the 16:23 mark gave PSU a 13-point advantage, 49-36. The Vikings held several double-digit leads from there with the last coming with 5:56 to go after another Valentine bucket made it 71-61.
From there the Green Wave started to chip away at the Vikings' lead and got to within two, 75-73, on a layup by Brett Benzio with 1:57 remaining. But Tulane made only 1 of 6 six shots the rest of way and Portland State went 8 of 10 at the free-throw line to seal the victory.
Portland State put together its best shooting performance of the season, making 46.4 percent (32 of 69) of their shots.
Shauneice Samms made all seven of her field goals, Valentine shot 9 of 15 and sank all three of her 3-point attempts and
Eryn Jones went 7 of 11 from the field.
Valentine's 24 points led all scorers as the senior forward matched a career-high set against Washington in the 2009-10 season opener. Valentine also reached a significant milestone in the contest as she became just the 14th player in Portland State history to reach the 1,000-career point plateau. She has 1,015 in three-plus seasons.
VanBrocklin, a transfer from Boise State, poured in 19 points and grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds to help PSU outrebound the Green Wave, 45-39.
Two other Vikings reached double-digits with Samms scoring 16 points and Jones scoring 20 of her own.
Tulane also had four players score in double-figures, with Brittany Lindsey leading the way with 19 points. Olivia Grayson added 13 points and 11 rebounds.
NOTES: This was the first meeting between the two schools and the first time PSU has faced a team from Conference USA ... Jones dished out a game-high eight assists, which is a new career best ... VanBrocklin recorded the first double-double of the season for PSU. She is the only Viking to score in double-figures in all four games ... Jones, Samms, VanBrocklin and Valentine accounted for 79 of PSU's 83 points ... the Vikings made just four of their first 10 free throw attempts, before making 8 of 10 over the final 1:45 ... Valentine needs 32 more rebounds to become the 10th player in PSU history to record 1,000-career points and 500-career rebounds ... PSU has won three in a row after losing their season opener at Washington ... tomorrow's game against Cal can be heard on GoViks.com, with Tom Hewitt calling the action. It will be the first time PSU and Cal have met up since the 1981-82 season.