PORTLAND, Ore. — New Portland State head women's basketball coach Karlie Burris came into the job back in April with a singular focus: To build relationships.
 
The practical, on-the-court improvements that the Vikings will eventually need as they look to rebuild their program will come in time. The foundational piece of all of that, as the Vikings head into their first year under Burris during the 2025-26 season, will be the relationships Burris and her coaching staff develop with their players.
 
Burris had that in mind when building out her first coaching staff. She got all her top picks, as she describes them, in associate head coach Kerri Nakamoto, assistant coaches Hailey King and Raina Perez, and Director of Player Development Reiko Thomas.
 
"It was important to me to hire assistants who cared about our players as people first, and I think I did that," Burris said. "I think the whole department can feel that. Since we're so close-knit, they can feel the players in our office spending time with us. I think that's what creates trust, creates respect, creates a bond off the court. And then we're able to coach them pretty hard on the court, which I think is pretty important for us to do. We're laying that foundation."
 
That extends to a 2025-26 Portland State women's basketball team that Burris largely didn't have a relationship with prior to taking the job. The Vikings returned nine players off last year's team, including starters Laynee Torres-Kahapea and Kyleigh Brown. Additionally, the program had already signed four freshmen – Sophie Buzzard, Hannah Chicken, Kailee Field and Ryme Jaekel – before last season started.
 
Burris came in with 13 players already committed to her roster, then, that she had no role in recruiting. But rather than push anyone out of the program, like some coaches coming into new jobs have done, Burris embraced everyone.
 
"I'm not a huge fan of when coaches take over a program and say, 'those aren't my players.' I didn't believe that to be true. These nine [returners] and the four freshmen are my players. I took the job, and that included doing the best by them," Burris said.
 
Burris made one addition to the 13 already committed to the roster, signing Portland-native Ajae Yoakum. Yoakum played two seasons each at Eastern Arizona College (2020-22) and FIU (2022-24) before spending the past season at Arizona. Yoakum did not appear in a game for the Wildcats due to injury, but was an All-Conference USA honorable mention following her second season at FIU when she averaged 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
 
"She's a leader just based off of experience. She had success at FIU. She got to learn a lot at Arizona, sitting out last year. We're excited at what she brings just from her leadership and experience," Burris said of Yoakum.
 
But even Yoakum had to develop a relationship with Burris after joining the Vikings. One practical way Burris and her staff sought to develop relationships with their new players was by feeding them. Every player has access to a hot meal right after practice, which they can come up to the offices at Viking Pavilion and eat together.
 
"Coming from UNLV, I knew that nutrition and fueling was just a huge part of what we were doing. With how much female student-athletes, in particular, don't eat enough, that was something that if we could provide for them, I think it makes a big difference," Burris said.
 
"It's their opportunity after practice to just be themselves. We can be ourselves. It's not that coach-player dynamic. We're just all people. We're here. They're eating their food and we're talking about stuff that doesn't have to pertain to basketball. For me, that's where I feel the most bonding has happened."
 
With everyone in place, Burris and her staff went about changing the mentality around the Vikings program. Burris knows it'll be an uphill climb for a program that has finished last in the Big Sky Conference in three of the past four seasons. The Vikings were picked to finish last again this season in the preseason coaches and media polls.
 
That's not going to daunt Burris, though. She and her staff have purposefully not mentioned the past. Instead, they're focused on changing their players' mindsets in the present.
 
"We talk all the time that if they're not thinking, behaving, acting in a way that helps us win basketball games, then they're not doing the right thing," Burris said. "We've really made it black and white for them and, of course, you're going to have a negative thought or two. But for us, it's about flipping the switch and recognizing the thought and turning it into something else that is productive. Whether it be towards them individually or what we're trying to do.
 
"We're just really trying to hone them in on the mental aspect of it, which to me, is maybe the most important piece. Having that championship mentality. Having a confident expectation of not only yourself but your team and what you're able to do. That's what we're trying to chip away at."
 
How that will work practically for Burris and the Vikings in games will take shape as the season progresses.
 
Burris said she didn't want to force an identity on her team, instead working with her players and coaches to develop one naturally. That means playing to the strengths of a team that features one player – Katelyn Best (6-3) – taller than six feet. The Vikings won't have size in the post, then, but they do have plenty of length on the perimeter. Buzzard, Chicken, Cici Ellington, Field, Kirstine Munk and Brooklyn Strandy all stand 5-10 or taller.
 
The lack of size can be a blessing in transition, which Burris expects to be a strength for the Vikings this season, both offensively and defensively.
 
"The pace is going to be a little bit different, and we need to be conditioned in order to do that. We want to kick the ball up the floor. We want to get easy shots when the defense isn't set. Are we going to take bad shots? No, but we want to be able to catch the defense when they're off-balanced. And then conversely to that, we've spent a lot of time on transition defense. We want to be set. We want to force teams to set up in the half court," Burris said.
 
Burris also expects her team to rebound the ball well this season. That has been an Achilles heel for the Vikings the past few seasons. They've ranked last in the Big Sky in rebounding margin three of the past four seasons, including a negative-6.33 margin last season.
 
But Yoakum figures to help with that as well as fellow post players Best and Chicken. Munk and Strandy have also moved to the post after playing previously as guards for the Vikings.
 
The final piece that Burris expects from her players game-to-game is execution. That covers a lot of different areas for Burris and the Vikings. Firstly, taking care of the ball. The Vikings ranked ninth in the Big Sky in turnover margin (minus-2.89) last season while forcing the second-fewest turnovers per game within the conference.
 
Execution for Burris also means executing the scouting report. She'll have a number of benchmarks for the Vikings to hit that will show that. One of them will be limiting the opposing team's best player.
 
"We don't want a player to go off [against us]. We don't want an opponent to have 17+ points. We've got to hone in on the best players and make sure we make other players step up," Burris said.
 
The Vikings went to work on those elements starting in the summer when they had their whole group together for the first time. Burris and her coaching staff were pleased with what they saw from the players over the summer, and they've continued to show improvements since the start of fall camp.
 
"We have some pieces that we didn't know we were going to have. And so, we're going to be tough. I was a tough-nosed player, and I hope they kind of take on that approach. We will have a chip on our shoulder," Burris said.
 
"I do like our speed. I like our ability to get to the basket. And I think we're going to be able to rebound the ball, and that's going to be huge for us."
 
Among the returners, Brown will be the team's leading returning scorer with 9.8 points per game. She scored in double figures in the team's last six games of last season, including a career-high 19 points at Montana on March 1. Brown's best game as a freshman last season came against UC Davis on Nov. 30. She scored 14 of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter while leading the Vikings back from a nine-point deficit in the quarter.
 
Torres-Kahapea led the Vikings with 2.52 assists per game, ranking her 13th in the conference last season. Cici Ellington, meanwhile, returned from a two-year injury absence to score in double figures six times during the conference season.
 
Guards Jamia Carter and Taylor Moffat will be coming off of injury for the Vikings. Moffat, as well as fellow returner Alani Encinas could provide a shooting touch for the Vikings from the outside.
 
Burris doesn't expect the Vikings to be a finished product by their exhibition game Thursday (7 p.m. vs. Warner Pacific). Not even by the time conference play opens on Jan. 1 (vs. Weber State). But that's not her goal for the Vikings.
 
"Success doesn't happen overnight. I think a lot of people forget that. It's going to take a lot of growth for us. And so, I think the message is, are we growing? Are we learning? Are we continuing to develop to get where we want to be? And if we're seeing those different things, then we're going to be happy about it," Burris said.
 
As much as the Vikings hope to climb out of the cellar this season, the one benefit of the cellar is that nobody expects anything of you. And with a new coaching staff developing a new mindset within its players, that puts the Vikings in a unique spot heading into their 2025-26 season.
 
"We're going to be the hunters this year at Portland State. We're super excited about that. No one has any expectations for us, other than ourselves. And we're excited to be the hunters. That's a good spot to be. You get to play really hard with reckless abandon and really not worry about the result because all the expectations are on the other team. It's a fun place to be," Burris said.
 
"It's hunting season."