Complete game notes (PDF)
 

TIPOFF

As encouraging as a road split to open the 2023-24 season has been for fans of the Portland State women's basketball team, it's time to come home.
 
The college basketball season will be eight days old by the time the Vikings finally host their first home game Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Warner Pacific. Too long for a group of Viking fans excited at the prospect of what's to come this season.
 
The Vikings delivered on their early promise in their season-opener against UC Davis last Thursday. Playing its season opener on the road for the first time since the 2020-21 COVID season, the Vikings beat an Aggie team picked to finish third in the Big West Conference, 71-62.
 
It wasn't just the win that was promising, but how the Vikings won. A season after the Vikings ranked 306th nationally in rebounding margin, they outrebounded the Aggies, 36-35. And the Aggies were a strong rebounding team a season ago when they led the Big West in defensive rebounds and ranked third in both total rebounds and rebounding margin. Additionally, a season after the Vikings were too reliant on their three-point shooting at times, they outscored the Aggies 40-30 in the paint. The 40 points from near the basket were better than any game last season when the Vikings' season high for points in the paint was 34 against Utah Valley on Nov. 26.
 
Rhema Ogele led the Vikings to the win with a career-best performance. She scored a career-high 24 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the floor while adding 11 rebounds for her third career double-double. Ogele started 9-for-9 from the floor while scoring 18 of the Vikings' 41 first-half points, leading the Vikings to a 21-point halftime advantage.
 
Ogele missed the Vikings' second game of the season, however, due to concussion protocol. She'd be considered doubtful for Tuesday's game against the Knights, meaning other Vikings will need to step up going forward.
 
The Vikings' level dropped in their first game without Ogele against San Diego Saturday. Two days after shooting 51.0 percent from the floor in their season opener, the Vikings saw their field goal percentage drop to 23.6 percent (13-of-55) against the Toreros. Additionally, the Vikings saw their opponents' field goal percentage go from 38.7 percent to 52.5 percent.
 
But poor shooting seems like only a temporary problem for the Vikings, especially from three-point range. The Vikings went just 10-of-44 (.227) from deep across both games last weekend, a rare thing for a team that ranked second in the Big Sky and 38th in the nation while making 35.0 percent of its shots from three-point range last season. Preseason Big Sky MVP Esmeralda Morales went just 4-of-18 (.222) from deep last weekend, a season after she ranked second in the conference in both three-point field goal percentage (.421) and makes per game (2.48).
 
You'd have to figure Morales and the other Vikings will start hitting soon. Alaya Fitzgerald didn't shoot a particularly good percentage either, but she did make four shots from deep, including three early in Saturday's game against San Diego as she tried to keep the Vikings in it.
 
The Vikings were also at their best in Thursday's opener with junior guard Mia 'Uhila doing a little bit of everything. 'Uhila, now starting after coming off the bench for much of her first two seasons as a Viking, filled the stat sheet with 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. The more 'Uhila can play at that level – as opposed to Saturday when she was held scoreless – will only benefit the Vikings.
 
Tuesday's game should give more Vikings the space to shine. Warner Pacific, Tuesday's opponent, won its season opener, 52-43, over Pacific Luthern on Nov. 9. McKeeley Tonkin, who also led the Knights in scoring a year ago, scored a team-high 14 points in the game. Amalya Sales followed with 12 points, while Alex Mee grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive glass.
 
The Knights were a strongerer team defensively than they were offensively a year ago, when they went 3-24 overall and 3-17 within the NAIA's Cascade Collegiate Conference. The Knights ranked fifth in the CCC with 9.2 steals per game. Five different Knight players averaged at least 1.0 steals per game, and all five of those players are back this season. That group includes Sales (1.6 spg), Emily Brown (1.4), Tonkin (1.3), Serena Sanchez (1.1) and Mee (1.0).
 
The Knights are in their first year under head coach Jimmy Smith. He makes Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg seem like an experienced veteran as she enters her third year at the helm of the Vikings. It was year two for Gregg that saw the Vikings improve by eight wins in conference play, setting a program record.
 
That's what has Viking fans so excited to see this year's team play. They get their first chance to do that Tuesday.
 

GAME #3: PORTLAND STATE (1-1) vs. WARNER PACIFIC (1-0)

GAME DETAILS: Tuesday, Nov. 14, 6 p.m. PT, Portland, Ore. (Viking Pavilions)
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
SCOUTING WARNER PACIFIC: The Warner Pacific Knights opened their season with a 52-43 win over Pacific Lutheran on Nov. 9. McKeeley Tonkin led the Knights with 14 points while Amalya Sales followed with 12. Alex Mee, an undersized forward at 5-9, led the Knights with 14 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end. The win gave new head coach Jimmy Smith his first win at the helm of the Knights. Cascade Collegiate Conference coaches picked the Knights to finish 12th in the CCC this season after they went 3-24 overall and 3-17 in conference play last season. The Knights return four of their five starters from last year's team, as well as five of their top seven scorers. Tonkin, just as she led the team in its season opener, led the Knights with 9.8 points per game last season. No Knight averaged in double figures, though, as the team averaged only 53.0 points per game a season ago to rank last in the CCC. The strength for the Knights last season came on the defensive side. They ranked fifth in the CCC with 9.2 steals per game. Five different Knight players averaged at least 1.0 steals per game, and all five of those players are back this season. That group includes Sales (1.6 spg), Emily Brown (1.4), Tonkin (1.3), Serena Sanchez (1.1) and Mee (1.0).
ALL-TIME SERIES: The Vikings lead the all-time series between them and the Knights, 5-1. The Vikings have won five straight games against the Knights, including a 67-40 win in last season's opener on Nov. 7. The Vikings also beat the Knights, 87-64 in their 2021 season opener on Nov. 9, 2021.
 

STORYLINES/STREAKS/RECORDS

• The Vikings split their opening weekend of the season, winning at UC Davis, 71-62, Thursday before dropping a game at San Diego, 71-43, Saturday.
• Rhema Ogele set a career high with 24 points on 12-of-14 shooting in the Vikings' season-opening win at UC Davis. Ogele also grabbed 11 rebounds to give her only her third career double-double. However, Ogele sat the Vikings' game against San Diego with a concussion.
• The Vikings' points in the paint varied wildly between both games. With Ogele, the Vikings outscored UC Davis 40-30 in the paint. That was more points in the paint than they had in any game last season when their season high was 34 against Utah Valley on Nov. 26. Without Ogele, San Diego controlled the paint, outscoring the Vikings 44-12.
• Other stats that looked like night and day comparisons between both games included: rebounding margin (+1 vs. UC Davis, -15 vs. San Diego), FG% (.510 vs. .236), and opponent FG% (.387 vs. .525).
• The Vikings shot just 22.7 percent (10-of-44) from three-point range across both games last weekend. That was an uncharacteristic number for a Viking team that ranked second in the Big Sky in three-point field goal percentage (.350) last season.
• Esmeralda Morales, the preseason Big Sky MVP, scored in double figures in both games last week. She finished with 21 points, four rebounds and five assists against UC Davis on Thursday, then followed with 17 points and three steals against San Diego Saturday.
• Esmeralda Morales needs 109 points to become the 21st player in program history to score 1,000 points in her Portland State career. She would become the first Viking to do so since Desirae Hansen hit the 1k mark during the first round of the Big Sky tournament on March 8, 2021.
• Mia 'Uhila filled the stat sheet in the Vikings' win over UC Davis, finishing with 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. She was held scoreless in 25 minutes against San Diego, however.
• Alaya Fitzgerald scored 11 of the Vikings' first 19 points against San Diego thanks to 3-of-6 shooting from three-point range in the first half.
• Big Sky coaches and media members picked the Vikings to finish fifth in the conference in their respective preseason polls.
• The Vikings set a program record with eight more conference wins last season than they won the previous year. That was one off the best year-to-year turnaround in Big Sky Conference history.
• The Vikings advanced to the Big Sky semifinals last season for the first time since the 2018-19 season. The Vikings beat Idaho State, 73-58, in the first round of last year's tournament, then upset second-seeded and defending-champion Montana State, 77-65, in the quarterfinals.
• The Vikings returned four starters and nine letterwinners off last year's team. That group includes All-Big Sky second-team selection Esmeralda Morales, as well as third-leading scorer Alaya Fitzgerald and leading rebounder Rhema Ogele. Cinco McCartney, who averaged 6.0 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, while starting 30 of 31 games also returns.
• The Vikings have more upperclassmen (8) than they do underclassmen (7) for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
• The Vikings made the program's first international trip with a tour of Costa Rica in September. The Vikings played two exhibitions against members of the Costa Rica National Team during the trip, winning both.

 

MEASURING MATURITY

The Vikings have more upperclassmen (8) than they do underclassmen (7) for the first time since the 2018-19 season. Measuring that maturity will be something to monitor during the Vikings' 2023-24 season. There were some signs of it in the Vikings' season-opening 71-62 win over UC Davis. A year after the Vikings ranked 306th nationally in rebounding margin, they outrebounded a UC Davis team that led the Big West Conference in defensive rebounds per game a year ago. Additionally, while the Vikings often struggled when they couldn't hit three-pointers last season, they beat the Aggies with 40 of their 71 points coming from inside the paint. That was more points from inside the paint than the Vikings scored in any game lsat season when their season high was 34 against Utah Valley on Nov. 26. Defensively, the Vikings held UC Davis to 38.7 percent (24-of-62) shooting, better than the 41.9 percent opponents shot against the Vikings last season. Of course, the Vikings also hoped their maturity would mean they wouldn't have as many ups and downs between games. That didn't happen through week one, as the Vikings followed their win over UC Davis with a 28-point loss to San Diego. That's something to watch going forward, then.
 

THREE-POINT SHOOTING

The backbone of the Vikings' offense last season was the team's three-point shooting. The Vikings finished the season ranked second in the Big Sky and 38th nationally while making 35.0 percent of their shots from three-point range. That was the third-best single-season three-point field goal percentage for the Vikings during the program's Division I era. It was strange, then, to see the Vikings shoot just 22.7 percent from three-point range over the first weekend of the season. The Vikings won't shoot that poorly for long, though. Not with the firepower they have available to them. Esmeralda Morales had a tough opening weekend from deep, going 4-of-18 (.222) combined across both games, but you can bet that that will be temporary. Morales ranked second in the Big Sky in both three-point field goal percentage (.421) and makes per game (2.48) last season. That included several standout games. Morales hit six three-pointers while scoring 28 points in the Vikings' upset win over Montana State in the Big Sky quarterfinals. She also hit five triples while scoring 28 points in the Vikings' road win over Northern Arizona – one of the Big Sky regular-season co-champions last season – on Jan. 12. All told, Morales hit four or more three-pointers in 12 of the Vikings' 31 games last season. The Vikings' lost their other outside threat from last season in Jada Lewis, who left as a grad transfer for San Diego State. However, Alaya Fitzgerald seems ready to take over at least some of that offense. Fitzgerald hit three outside shots Saturday against San Diego and heads into Tuesday's game ranked tied for sixth in the Big Sky with 2.00 three-pointers made per game. The Vikings will need others beyond Morales and Fitzgerald to hit from the outside, of course. Mia 'Uhila and Laynee Torres-Kahapea hit one each last weekend and could emerge as additional threats as the season goes on.
 

AROUND HERE, WE SPELL M-V-P AS E-S-M-E

Esmeralda Morales proved her preseason Big Sky MVP credentials right away with back-to-back double-figure scoring games to open the season. Morales scored 21 points to go with four rebounds and five assists in the Vikings' 71-62 win over UC Davis last Thursday, then followed with 17 points and three steals against San Diego last Saturday. The most impressive element of Morales' game last weekend may have been how she took care of the ball. In two games in which the Vikings committed 36 combined turnovers, Morales had only one of those 36 turnovers despite being the team's primary ballhandler. That means Morales has a 7.00 assist-to-turnover ratio after the opening weekend, a mark that gives her the Big Sky lead in the category and ranks her 19th in the NCAA. Morales is no stranger to being ranked among the Big Sky leaders, though. A year after she ranked in the top 15 of nine different statistical categories, she's already ranked in eight categories after the opening weekend of the year. Morales ranks third in the Big Sky in scoring with 19.0 points per game. She also ranks third in free-throw percentage, having gone 16-of-17 (.941) from the charity stripe. Elsewhere, Morales ranks seventh in assists per game (3.50), tied for sixth in steals per game (2.50), 13th in three-point field goal percentage (.222), tied for fifth in three-pointers made per game (2.00) and fifth in minutes played per game (35.1). From a career perspective, Morales now ranks 10th in program history for scoring average (14.4) and three-pointers made (128). Additionally, she needs only 109 more points to become the 21st player in program history to score 1,000 points.
 

RHEMA REMADE

Junior center Rhema Ogele signaled that she's leveled up over the offseason with a standout showing in the team's season opener against UC Davis. Ogele set a career high with 24 points on 12-of-14 shooting while adding 11 rebounds for her third career double-double. Ogele was a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor in the first half when she helped lead the Vikings to a 21-point halftime advantage. Her presence in the paint made a difference in a number of ways. For one, it made the Vikings less reliant on their outside shooting. The Vikings outscored the Aggies 40-30 in the paint, more points than they scored in any game last season when their season high for points in the paint was 34 against Utah Valley on Nov. 26. What's more, when Ogele was forced to sit Saturday against San Diego, the Vikings felt her absence. San Diego outscored the Vikings 44-12 in the paint without Ogele. They also outrebounded the Vikings by 15, two days after Ogele led the Vikings to a +1 rebounding margin (36-35) against a UC Davis team that led the Big West Conference in defensive rebounds per game a year ago.
 

YEAR-TO-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS

At 8-10 in Big Sky play last season, the Vikings improved their conference win total by eight after going 0-20 the year before. That's the best year-to-year turnaround in conference wins in program history and tied the second-best turnaround in Big Sky Conference history. The conference record stands at +9, which four different teams have accomplished, most recently North Dakota during the 2013-14 season. The Vikings also improved their overall win total by 10 last season, the second-best year-to-year improvement in overall wins in program history.
 
Best Year-to-Year Improvements in Conference Wins (Big Sky History)
+Total     Team                             Year
+9           Idaho State                   1996-97
+9           Montana State              2000-01
+9           Idaho State                   2003-04
+9           North Dakota                2013-14
+8           Montana State              2019-20
+8           Southern Utah              2021-22
+8           Sacramento State         2021-22
+8           Portland State              2022-23
+7           CSUN                             1997-98
+7           Eastern Washington     2009-10
+7           Montana                       2012-13
 

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Nov. 9, 2023, Portland State 71, UC Davis 62: Rhema Ogele led the Vikings to a road win in their season opener with a career-high 24 points on 12-of-14 shooting from the field. The win was the Vikings' sixth straight in their season opener.