BOISE, Idaho – Esmeralda Morales led the Vikings to their first Big Sky semifinal appearance since 2019 this week. She did so after becoming the Vikings' first All-Big Sky second-team selection since 2019 the week before. It's only appropriate, then, that as the Big Sky tournament wraps up with Sacramento State's victory over Northern Arizona that Morales becomes the Vikings' first all-tournament selection since…you guessed it, 2019.
Morales earned the honor after averaging a team-leading 16.3 points per game across the Vikings' three games at the tournament. That included a game-high 28 points in the Vikings' 77-65 upset of Montana State in the quarterfinals Sunday. Morales' 28 points set a new single-game school record at the Big Sky tournament. Morales hit six three-pointers in the Vikings' win over the Bobcats, while the Vikings tied their single-game record with 15 as a team.
Outside of the upset of the Bobcats, Morales also posted 16 points and six assists in the Vikings' 73-58 win over Idaho State Saturday in the first round of the conference tournament.
Overall, in addition to her 16.3 points per game, Morales also averaged 3.0 three-pointers made per game on 42.9 percent shooting at the tournament. She added 3.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.
Morales finished the regular season ranked in the top 15 of the Big Sky in nine different statistical categories, and she ranked in the top five in six of those nine categories. She led the conference in minutes played per game (36.8) during the regular season, while she ranked second in both steals per game (2.07) and three-point field goal percentage (.420). She also ranked fourth in three other categories between points per game (15.8), field goal percentage (.433) and three-pointers made per game (2.43).
Outside of stats, Morales and the Vikings set a program record by improving their conference win total by eight this season. That tied the second-best year-to-year turnaround in Big Sky Conference history, trailing the conference record by only one.
2023 Big Sky All-Tournament Team
Esmeralda Morales, Portland State
Kahlaijah Dean, Sacramento State (MVP)
Isnelle Natabou, Sacramento State
Regan Schenck, Northern Arizona
Nyah Moran, Northern Arizona
Jamie Loera, Eastern Washington
