Third-year women's basketball Head Coach Lynn Kennedy should really appreciate the weather in the Pacific Northwest.
 
Because if junior guard Sidney Rielly had grown up in a warmer and drier climate, she might be using her six-foot frame to battle for soccer balls rather than being one of the Big Sky Conference's leading scorers half way through the 2017-2018 season.
 
"When I was in the eighth grade, I think I was a better soccer player. But, I grew up outside Seattle where it rains a lot (Everett averages 36.1 inches of rain annually with an average high temperature of only 57.6). I'd look over at my mom and dad on the sidelines and they were cold … just waiting for basketball season," Rielly recalled.
 
She remembers one morning when there was ice on the field at the beginning of a game "and we were in shorts. That was my final season playing soccer," she said.
 
Rielly actually started playing basketball prior to soccer. She was in the first grade and took up soccer two or three years later. Rielly's dad, Greg Rielly, had played the sport in high school. Plus, it was something she could do with her younger sister (Darian) and the two played for the same teams through high school (multiple injuries caused Darian to drop the sport).
 
In the eighth grade, she decided she'd like to play basketball at the college level, if she could, and it was one year later that she realized that dream could happen. As a freshman, she made the WESCO 3A second team and the first team as a junior.
 
Rielly went on to be Everett High School's all-time leading scorer with 1,517 points, averaging 18.7 points per game.  She also set the school's career free-throw percentage mark shooting 79 percent. Her last two years, she was the 3A scoring champion, averaging 23.5 ppg as a junior and 21.9 ppg as a senior.
 
With that kind of record, she drew interest from a lot of Big Sky, West Coast Conference and Big West teams, but she committed to Santa Clara early in her junior year.
 
"It was a beautiful campus and I connected with the girls," she said. "Plus, it was warm and sunny a lot."
 
Before she could play a game, there was a coaching change. "They wanted me to stay for a year so I did, but it wasn't a good fit."
 
She wanted something different from the coaches ("coaches have a real impact on your life") and she wanted to play an up-tempo game, similar to the style of then-newly hired Viking Coach Lynn Kennedy.
 
"We're from the same area, so we knew a lot of the same people. I'd seen her play during the summer at different tournaments, and once she received her release from Santa Clara, she was one of the first calls I made," said Kennedy.
 
Rielly made a visit to the PSU campus and liked it.  Plus, "I had a friend who played for him (Kennedy) briefly at SOU, and she had nothing but good things to say about him."
 
It was tough transferring, Rielly remembered, "especially if you haven't had much playing time." And, after a year of little activity, she faced a redshirt year as a sophomore because of NCAA transfer rules.
 
The upside was that she was one of three redshirt sophomores Kennedy had recruited: Ashley Bolston and Courtney West. All three sat with her, which helped them all learn Kennedy's system.
 
Sitting out also gave her time to work on her physical strength, on her shooting and scoring ability, and on her defense.
 
She has made quite an impression during her one and a half seasons as a member of the Portland State women's basketball team.
 
Last season, she averaged 15.7 points per game and was the team's leader in field goal percentage (.530), hitting 205-of-385 attempts. This season, she is averaging 19.6 points per game, fourt in the Big Sky, and is shooting .464 from the floor with 30 three-pointers through 16 games.
 
"Sidney is a really good shooter. That was the number one thing that interested us. The first thing we worked on was her defensive game … and she's getting better. She's becoming a better defender and better at attacking the basket," said Kennedy.
 
Starting to play last season took some adjustments, to some extent because she'd played so little at Santa Clara and then had to sit out her sophomore year.
 
"It was my first year and physically it took some adjustments. I was confident I could do what I had done, but it was the first year I actually played. I thought I did pretty well, but there were a lot of things I wanted to improve.
 
"I proved I had the ability to score at this level, but it also showed things I needed to work on: defense, bringing the ball up under pressure, being more authoritative on offense, and cutting down my turnovers," said Rielly.
 
During the offseason, Rielly continued to work on her defense with a trainer in Seattle who works with both male and female athletes. She played against girls and boys and said playing against boys was "really beneficial because boys are quicker and stronger, so it's like playing at another level."
 
And, Kennedy thought the offseason work showed results.
 
"She worked hard in the offseason on her speed, strength, quickness and defense, and it's showing," he said.
 
Still, the favorite part of the game is scoring for Rielly.
 
"Basketball is a game of scoring. I like cutting and getting open in transition. I discovered that came naturally to me, so I have continued working on my form," she said.
 
A highlight so far of her time as a Viking came when she hit the game-tying shot at the buzzer against UC Irvine to send the game into overtime. Portland State went on to win 82-72 in overtime.
 
 "We came back from a 16-point deficit and I thought we took a lot of steps forward in that game. We stayed together under pressure and we always thought we'd win that game."
 
The other upside to sitting out a year for Rielly was an opportunity to concentrate more on her studies. She'll graduate this year (she's currently carrying a 3.4 cumulative GPA) and plans to begin graduate school next year so she can play her last year of eligibility.
 
In her spare time, "I rest a lot," she said while laughing. And, she's discovered she likes her alone time. Rielly likes working out on her own. It gives her a chance to be alone with her thoughts, she said.
 
She likes to travel and took a three-week trip to Greece and Italy last summer. France and Spain are tentatively in the mix for next summer with her sister and a friend from Santa Clara.
 
Coming to PSU had another advantage, she said. "My parents come down to a lot of my games. My grandma, parents, sister, and some neighbors have also come down. It's nice to have the support."
 
For his part, Kennedy said Rielly has exceeded his expectations on and off the court.
 
"Not only can she shoot, but she's a great leader. She's one of our captains and leads both on and off the court, which you don't always find. She plays hard every game."