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OPENING TIP
After defeating Sacramento State in dramatic fashion to open Big Sky Conference play, the Portland State women's basketball team looks to extend its winning streak into the new year Thursday against the Eastern Washington Eagles. Tip is slated for 8 p.m. PT at the Pamplin Sports Complex.   

LIVE VIDEO: A live video stream will be available for Thursday's game. A Link can be found on the women's basketball schedule page at GoViks.com. 

LIVE STATS: Live stats will be available for Thursday's contest. A link can be found on the women's basketball schedule page at GoViks.com. 

FOLLOW THE VIKINGS: Fans can follow the Vikings on Twitter and Instagram. Follow @PSUViksWBB for all the latest news, notes, and behind the scenes photos. Follow @PSUViks for the latest on all 15 Portland State Athletics programs. 

UP NEXT: Portland State will close out its season-long four-game home stand on Saturday, January 6 when it hosts the Idaho Vandals. Tip is slated for 1 p.m. PT   
 
STORY LINES

• Portland State is going for a season-high fifth-straight win and its fifth home win of the year. 
• Portland State enters the game as the highest scoring offense in the Big Sky (75.5 ppg), while Eastern Washington has the lowest scoring offense (60.9 ppg).
• A win against Eastern Washington puts the Vikings three games above .500 for the first time since going 5-1 to open the 2012-13 season. 
• Portland State is 27-36 all-time against Eastern Washington and 20-21 in Big Sky Conference play. 
• Portland State is 16-14 overall and 12-8 in Big Sky play at home in the series. 
• Eastern Washington has won each of the last two meetings. 

QUICK HITS
BY THE NUMBERS

• Portland State is 7-5 overall this season and 1-0 in Big Sky Conference play. 
• Portland State is 3-5 on the road and 4-0 at home with its home games played at the Pamplin Sports Center at Lewis & Clark College. 
• Portland State is 4-1 in its last five and 7-3 in its last 10 games. PSU is 1-1 in overtime games.  
• Portland State is averaging a league-best 75.5 ppg and allowing 73.4 ppg on the year. 
• Portland State is shooting .427 from the floor, .367 from three-point range, and .755 at the line. 

BIG SKY BATTLES

• PSU is 145-195 all-time in Big Sky games.
• PSU is 91-79 in home games and 54-116 in road games.
• PSU is 9-10 all-time at the Big Sky Tournament.

WHO'S HOT?

• JR G Ashley Bolston is averaging 28.5 points per game over her last two, including a career-high 32-point performance against Ole Miss (12/19). She scored a game-high 25 points, including the game-tying and game-winning free throws in the Vikings' conference opener against Sacramento State. She is shooting .543 (19-for-35) from the floor with 5.5 assists per game over that stretch. 
• JR G Sidney Rielly is second in the Big Sky with 20.2 ppg on the year and leads the team with six 20-point games. She is averaging 8.0 field goals and 3.0 three-pointers per game over the last three. 
• FR G Kylie Jimenez hit a career-high 4 three-pointers in the Vikings' win over Sacramento State. She is averaging 6.5 assists per game over the last six games. 

SCOUTING EASTERN WASHINGTON

• Eastern Washington is 6-8 overall on the year and 1-1 in Big Sky Conference play. 
• Eastern Washington opened conference play with a 70-65 loss at home to Northern Colorado before defeating North Dakota 74-70. 
• Eastern Washington is shooting .391 from the floor, .262 from distance, and .721 at the line. 
• Eastern Washington is averaging a league-worst 60.9 points per game, while allowing 65.9 ppg. 
• SR G Delaney Hodgins leads the way for the Eagles averaging 19.6 points per game on the year. She also leads the team with 7.8 rebounds per game. She has led the team in scoring in all but one game this season and has led the team in scoring and rebounding in each of the last six games. 
• Hodgins has seven 20-point performances on the year, including a pair of 28-point games to start the year. She leads the team with 103 field goals, 58 more than the second most. She leads the team with 18 three-pointers and 26 blocks on the year.

NEWS AND NOTES
BIG SKY OPENER: Portland State is now 9-13 all-time in Big Sky Conference openers. The Vikings and Hornets have opened the conference season seven times with the Vikings holding a 5-2 advantage. 

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: JR G Ashley Bolston earned her first Big Sky Player of the Week honor of the season, second of her career, after dropping a career-high 32 points on Ole Miss to close out non-conference play. Bolston went 10-for-20 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers and a perfect 10-for-10 from the free-throw line to lead the Vikings to a 94-79 win over the Rebels. 

NATIONAL HONORS: Not only did JR G Ashley Bolston earn Big Sky Player of the Week honors for her career-high 32 points in the Vikings' win over Ole Miss, Bolston was named the College Sports Madness Big Sky Conference and National Mid-Major Player of the Week as well. 

BACK-TO-BACK 30-POINT GAMES: JR G Sidney Rielly posted her first 30-point performance of the season, second of her career, with 30 points in the Vikings' comeback win at UC Irvine on Dec. 16. Not to be outdone, JR G Ashley Bolston posted a career-high 32 points in the Vikings' next game, a win over the Ole Miss Rebels on Dec. 19. It was the first time that the Vikings had back-to-back 30-point scorers since Kelly Marchant and Claire Faucher posted 30 points in consecutive games in Dec. of 2009. 

LEADING THE BIG SKY: Portland State leads the league averaging 75.6 points per game. The Vikings have already surpassed the 90-point mark three times, all wins. In fact, the Vikings have only hit the 90-point mark 18 times over the past 12 seasons. Over that stretch, the 2010-11 season was the only other season in which PSU posted three 90-point games. 

WINS vs. LOSSES: The Vikings are 7-5 overall this season. There is a stark contrast on the box score between wins and losses. In wins, Portland State is averaging 82.1 points per game is shooting .456 from the floor and .804 from the free-throw line. In losses, those numbers drop to 66.2 ppg, .386 from the floor, and .663 at the line. The Vikings are holding their opponents to 16.8 fewer points per game in wins. Rebounds per game and assists per game are also all up in Portland State wins this season. 

COMEBACK KIDS: Earlier this season, Portland State had consecutive wins in which it came back from double-digit deficits to win. The Vikings trailed by 11 points early in the third quarter against Northwest University before winning 63-60. Portland State trailed UC Irvine by 16 points midway through the first half before coming back to force overtime on a last-second shot. The Vikings then outscored the Anteaters 18-8 in overtime to win 82-72. 

COMEBACK WIN: Portland State trailed UC Irvine by 16 points midway through the first half before coming back to win 82-72 in overtime on Dec. 16. It was the largest deficit overcome in a win under third-year Head Coach Lynn Kennedy and the largest overcome by Portland State since it came back from down 19 to defeat Eastern Washington, 77-70, in January of 2011. 

FINAL MINUTE HEROICS: Twice this season the Vikings have come back from a two possession deficit over the final 30 seconds of regulation to win. In both cases, FR G Kylie Jimenez hit a big three-pointer to cut into the lead. In the Vikings' win at UC Irvine, Jimenez cut the lead from six to three points with a three-pointer with 19 seconds left. The Vikings went on to tie the game before winning in overtime. In Portland State's Big Sky opener win over Sacramento State, the Vikings trailed by four with 18 seconds left. Jimenez hit another big three-pointer with 6.8 seconds left to make it a one-point game. JR G Ashley Bolston then hit a pair of free throws with 0.8 seconds left to give the Vikings a one-point win. 

COMING UP CLUTCH: Over the final minute of regulation and including overtime, both Sidney Rielly and Ashley Bolston have come up clutch for the Vikings. Rielly is shooting .556 (5-for-9) from the floor and .875 (7-for-8) at the line. Bolston, through four games, has 12 points in the final minute and in overtime, going 1-for-1 from the floor and 10-for-12 at the line.  

30-POINT GAME: JR G Sidney Rielly posted the second 30-point game of her career with a season-high 30 points in the Vikings' comeback win over UC Irvine (12/16). She is the first player since Kelly Marchant (2007-11) to record multiple 30-point games for a career. Rielly, Marchant, and Kelsey Kahle are the only Vikings to record multiple 30-point games since the Vikings joined the Big Sky Conference prior to the 1996-97 season. 

IN THE RECORD BOOK: After setting the Portland State single-season blocks record in just her first year with the Vikings, JR F Courtney West quickly turned her sights on the PSU career blocks mark. West surpassed the nearly 20-year-old record with five blocks against UC Irvine (12/16). She entered the game with 115 blocks before surpassing Kellie Chander-Read's (1994-97) record of 118 in the first half. She ended the game with 121 career blocks. West is now 15 blocks away from entering the Big Sky Conference's top 20 list. 

BLOCKS TRIPLE CROWN: JR G Courtney West, in just 43 career games at Portland State, has set the PSU single-game, single-season, and career blocks record. She set the single-season record twice last season with 8 blocks against both Sacramento State and North Dakota. She also set the single-season blocks record with 94 a year ago. She now holds the career blocks mark with 121 blocks and counting.  

FROM DOWNTOWN: The Vikings are shooting the ball from downtown at a higher clip than they did a year ago. Portland State is shooting .367 from distance with 7.5 three-pointers made per game this season. In 2016-17, the Vikings shot .300 from three-point range with 5.6 made per game. A large reason why is the addition of guards Kylie Jimenez and Kiana Brown. They have combined for 46 of the team's 90 three-pointers on the year. Additionally, JR G Sidney Rielly had just three games a year ago in which she hit three or more triples, this season she already has six such games. Brown has also hit at least one three-pointer in every game this season.

SPREADING IT AROUND: Portland State had a season-high five players score in double-figures in its win over Portland (11/28). JR G Sidney Rielly led the team with a game-high 18 points, while JR G Kiana Brown and JR F Courtney West each added 13 points. FR G Kylie Jimenez and JR G Corey James added 11 and 10 points respectively. On the season, Portland State has 40 double-digit scoring performances, 3.3 per game. 

20-POINT GAMES: Portland State had players scored 20-or-more points 25 times last season and the Vikings are off to a good start to match that this season. JR G Sidney Rielly recorded the team's first 20-point game of the year at Nevada (11/12). She has scored at least 20 points six this season, including a season-high 30-point performance at UC Irvine. Rielly's 17 career 20-point games are ninth all-time at Portland State. JR G Kiana Brown recorded her first 20-point game with a career-high 27 points at Seattle U (11/22) before FR F Savannah Dhaliwal added her first 20-point game with a career-high 26 points in a win over Multnomah (11/25). JR G Ashley Bolston recorded her first 20-point game of the season with a career-high 32 points against Ole Miss (12/19). Bolston followed that with a game-high 25 points in the Vikings' win over Sacramento State (12/30). 

FRESHMAN PHENOM: FR G Kylie Jimenez has quickly made her mark on the Portland State team. She has started every game so far as the Vikings' point guard and opened her career with three-straight games of at least 13 points and two three-pointers. She leads the Vikings with 4.6 assists per game, fourth in the Big Sky. She leads the league with a 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. 

BENCH HELP: Over the first eight games of the season, the Vikings had just five players coming off the bench, and only two who averaged more than 10 minutes per game. The PSU bench was outscored by 9.4 points per game, while starters accounted for roughly 80-percent of the Vikings' points. The Vikings' bench got deeper with the return of JR G Ashley Bolston from injury for the game against Northwest University. Since Bolston's return, the Portland State bench is averaging 13.8 points per game. 

NATIONAL LETTERS OF INTENT: Portland State has signed three student-athletes to National Letters of Intent. Desirae Hansen, Jordan Stotler, and Ana Tainta will join the Vikings for the 2018-19 academic year. 

• Hansen, a 6-foot guard from Rainier, Ore. is a three-time All-Lewis & Clark League first team honoree at Rainier High School and is coming off league MVP season. She led the Columbians to a 25-5 overall record and a league championship with a 16-2 mark. 
• Stotler, in just her first year at Umpqua Community College, was named the Northwest Athletic Conference Southern Region Most Valuable Player, Defensive Player of the Year, and Freshman of the Year. She was second in the NWAC averaging 22.4 points per game and third with 13.4 rebounds per game. Stotler recorded a league-record 150 blocks and 4.84 blocks per game, 2.00 blocks per game better than second place. She is just 29 blocks away from the conference's career blocks record. She shot .484 from the floor and .345 from three-point range, hitting 39 triples.
• Tainta, a 5-foot-10 guard from Zaragoza, Spain, averaged 19.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game while leading the U16 and U17 teams to three-straight Regional League Championships.