Vikings Face Eagles Wednesday in the Big Sky Quarterfinals

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After their Big Sky Championship first round win over Northern Arizona, the sixth-seeded Portland State women's basketball team will face No. 3 Eastern Washington in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 7. Tip-off is slated for 8 p.m. PT at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nev.
The Vikings have become very comfortable with late tip-offs this season. Due to the construction of the nearly-completed Viking Pavilion, Portland State played its home slate at Lewis and Clark College with all of its weekday games starting at 8 p.m. With their 77-61 win over Northern Arizona Monday night, the Vikings are now 5-1 this season in 8 p.m. tips.
Portland State will look to continue that trend against Eastern Washington. The two teams split the season series with each team winning on its home court. The Vikings took the first meeting, 75-60, in Portland (an 8 p.m. tip) before the Eagles evened the season series with a 64-57 win in Cheney, Wash. The Vikings and Eagles have split the two previous Big Sky Tournament meetings. EWU took the first tournament meeting with a quarterfinal win in 2003. PSU took a semifinal match up in 2011 en route to a second place finish.
Portland State will have its hands full with one of the league's most prolific scorers in Eastern Washington senior Delaney Hodgins. Hodgins is EWU's all-time leading scorer and is now third all-time in Big Sky history with 2,105 career points. She is second in the Big Sky this season with 22.6 points per game on the year and is coming off a Big Sky single-game record 46 points against Northern Arizona on March 2. She went 16-for-23 from the floor and a perfect 7-for-7 from three-point range against the 'Jacks. Hodgins averaged 21.5 points per game in the two meetings with PSU this season, shooting .516 from the floor and .444 from distance.
Eastern Washington has one of the best one-two punches in the Big Sky with Hodgins and Violet Kapri Morrow. Morrow is second on the team with 14.7 ppg this year but averaged 20.0 ppg against the Vikings. Hodgins was an All-Big Sky First Team selection, while Morrow was named to the third team.
Northern Arizona got out to a hot start in Monday's first round contest. Portland State weathered the early storm and tied it at 16-16 at the end of the first. The Vikings blew the game wide open in the second quarter. They outscored the Lumberjacks 22-5, closing out the half on a 16-0 run. NAU was held scoreless for the final 5:27 of the half.
The Lumberjacks once again started hot with an 8-0 run to open the second half. The Vikings countered with their own 8-0 run to rebuild their lead. Both teams scored 40 points in the second half as Portland State took the game, 77-61, to advance to its second-straight quarterfinals.
Sidney Rielly became the 17th member of the Portland State women's basketball 1,000-point club with her game-high 24 points against the Lumberjacks. She has 1,001 career points and counting heading into Wednesday's game. She is just the third Viking do surpass the 1,000-point mark in just two seasons.

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A win would give the Vikings their second-straight Big Sky semifinal appearance.
A win would improve the Vikings' Big Sky Tournament record to 11-10.
A win would give the Vikings multiple Big Sky Tournament wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history.
A win would give the Vikings their 19th win of the season, which would be fourth-best all-time at PSU in 22 years as a member of the Big Sky.

UP NEXT: With a win, the Vikings will advance to face the winner of the game between No. 2 Idaho and No. 7 Montana State in the second of two Big Sky semifinals. A loss would eliminate the Vikings from the Big Sky Tournament and NCAA Tournament contention.

EASTERN WASHINGTON EAGLES

Eastern Washington went 19-14 overall and 12-6 in conference play for a fourth place finish a year ago. The Eagles defeated Idaho in the second round of the 2016-17 Big Sky Tournament before falling to top-seeded Montana State.
Eastern Washington defeated Texas State in the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament before falling to Idaho in the second round.
Eastern Washington returns nine letterwinners and three starters from last year's squad, including All-Big Sky First Teamer Delaney Hodgins.
Eastern Washington is 17-13 overall and finished fourth in the Big Sky with a 12-6 mark.
Eastern Washington is averaging 67.5 points per game this season, eighth in the conference. The Eagles are allowing 67.2 ppg, fifth in the league. They are shooting .415 from the floor, while opponents are shooting .418.
Eastern Washington is ninth in the conference with a .305 three-point shooting percentage and is hitting 6.3 triples per game.
Hodgins was an All-Big Sky First Team selection for the second-straight season and is second in the league with 22.6 ppg on the year. She is ninth in the Big Sky with 7.3 rebounds per game and fourth with 1.5 blocks per game.
Hodgins became Eastern Washington's all-time leading scorer with 28 points against Sacramento State (2/1), surpassing her sister Hayley Hodgins' mark. She is third all-time in Big Sky history with 2,105 career points, 67 away from second and 191 away from first.
Violet Kapri Morrow was an All-Big Sky Third Team selection is the only other Eagle averaging double-digits with 14.6 ppg.

GAME NOTES: PORTLAND STATE vs. EASTERN WASHINGTON
ALL-TIME SERIES: Eastern Washington leads the all-time series 37-28, dating back to the 1976-77 season. The Big Sky Tournament series is tied at 1-1 with PSU taking the last tournament game, 73-62, in the 2011 semifinals.
THIS YEAR: January 4, 2018 at Pamplin Sports Center, PSU 75, EWU 60: The Vikings took the first meeting of the season, 75-60, at home to start league play 2-0. Portland State shot 48.5 percent from the floor, while holding Eastern Washington to 31.8 percent shooting. Four Vikings scored in double figures, led by Sidney Rielly's team-high 19 points. Ashley Bolston added 15 points and eight rebounds, while Courtney West tallied 14 points, seven rebounds, and five blocks. Pia Jurhar came off the bench for 10 points and eight rebounds in just 12 minutes. Portland State outscored Eastern Washington 44-to-20 in the paint. Violet Kapri Morrow scored a game-high 25 points for the Eagles. February 3, 2018 at Cheney, Wash., EWU 64, PSU 57: Eastern Washington even the season series with a seven-point home win. Portland State out-shot Eastern Washington but turned the ball over a season-high 31 times, which led to 27 points off turnovers. Ashley Bolston scored a team-high 16 points for PSU but turned the ball over a career-high 11 times. Delaney Hodgins posted a game-high 27 points, going 10-for-17 from the floor and 2-for-4 from deep.

QUICK HITS
BY THE NUMBERS

Portland State is 18-12 overall this season and 11-7 in Big Sky Conference play.
Portland State went 10-2 at home with its home games played at the Pamplin Sports Center.
Portland State is 5-1 in games that tip at 8 p.m. this season.
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 71.3 ppg and allowing 68.9 ppg on the year.
Portland State is shooting .432 from the floor, .356 from three-point range, and .776 at the line.

BIG SKY BATTLES

PSU is 155-203 all-time in Big Sky games.
PSU is 97-82 in home games and 58-121 in road games.
PSU is 10-10 all-time at the Big Sky Tournament.

WHO'S HOT?

JR G Sidney Rielly became the 17th member of PSU's 1,000-point club with a game-high 24 points in the Vikings' Big Sky Tournament first round win over NAU. She went 9-for-19 from the floor with a pair of three-pointers and four free throws. She has scored 24 points in both tournament games against the Lumberjacks, dating back to last season.
JR G Ashley Bolston has scored in double-figures in nine of her last 10 games. She posted 26 points in back-to-back wins over Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. She went 15-for-29 (.517) from the floor and 21-for-25 (.840) at the free-throw line over those two games. She scored a team-high 13 points in the Vikings' loss at Northern Colorado (2/28) before posting a team-high 20 points in a win at North Dakota (3/2).
The bench. The Vikings outscored the Lumberjacks 30-5 in bench scoring, thanks in large part to Kiana Brown's 17 points. She wasn't alone off the bench. Tatiana Streun added nine points and eight rebounds, while Pia Jurhar added two points and a team-high 13 rebounds. Savannah Dhaliwal added two points and two rebounds in two minutes of action.
The Portland State offense. After not scoring more than 70 points in nine-straight games, the Vikings have put up 80 points and 77 points in wins over North Dakota and Northern Arizona respectively. Four starters scored in double-figures as the Vikings shot 51.8 percent from the floor for the game against UND. The Vikings dropped 30 points in the first quarter, going 13-for-19 from the floor and 4-for-6 from three against the Fighting Hawks. They outscored the Lumberjacks 21-5 in the second quarter to run away from the game Monday night.
Free-throw shooting. Portland State is shooting .776 from the free-throw line on the year, seventh-best in the country.

NEWS AND NOTES
ALL CONFERENCE: Ashley Bolston and Sidney Rielly were named to the All-Big Sky Second and Third teams respectively for the second-consecutive year.
Bolston leads the team with 16.3 points per game on the year, is second with 73 assists (3.8 apg) and second in steals (2.3 spg). She missed the first eight games of the year but came on strong following her return. She posted a career-high 32 points against Ole Miss in just her third game back to round out non-conference play for the Vikings.
Rielly became the first Vikings since Kelsey Kahle in 2008-09 to tally four-straight 20-point games earlier this season. She posted her second-career 30-point game after hitting the game-tying field goal to force overtime at UC Irvine. She is second on the team with 15.8 points per game. She is shooting .454 from the floor, also second on the team, .352 from distance, and .800 at the line.

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Kylie Jimenez has been a tremendous addition for the Vikings. The Thornton, Colo., native has started every game in her first season on the Park Blocks. She concluded the regular season with 8.8 points per game and leads the team with 132 assists. Jimenez is third in the Big Sky with 4.6 assists per game and her 2.64 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the Big Sky and is 21st in the nation heading into the Big Sky tournament.

1,000-POINT CLUB: JR G Sidney Rielly became 17th member of the Portland State 1,000 point club with a game-high 24 points in the Vikings' Big Sky Tournament first round win over Northern Arizona (3/5). Rielly surpassed the milestone in 63 career games and became just the third player in PSU history to do it in two seasons joining Kelsey Kahle (2005-09) and Sheri Stemple (1991-93).

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