Vikings Host Pepperdine Monday on Opening Day of 2026-27 Season

TIPOFF
After a blowout 111-48 exhibition win over Warner Pacific last Tuesday, the 2026-27 Portland State women's basketball team will officially make its regular season debut on Monday, Nov. 2 against Pepperdine (7 p.m. tipoff).

GAME #1: PORTLAND STATE (0-0) vs. PEPPERDINE (0-0)
GAME DETAILS: Monday, Nov. 2, 7 p.m. PT, Portland, Ore. (Viking Pavillion)
LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
SCOUTING PEPPERDINE:

Last season, the Pepperdine University Waves were sixth in the West Coast Conference (WCC) with an overall record of 21-13 and a conference record of 10-8.
Two Waves players were named to the All-WCC Preseason team: Elli Guiney and Lina Falk. Guiney, a junior this year, led the team last season in total points (509), average points (15.0), and three-pointers (72). Falk, a senior this year, was third in total points (338), averaged 11.7 points per game, and led the team with the highest field goal percentage (.470).
Last season, Falk finished fourth in the WCC in three-point percentage at .400. Guiney was close behind, with .399.
Transfer and graduate student Maggie Mendelson comes to the Waves from Penn State, where she was a dual-athlete in basketball and volleyball. Not only was she part of the 2024 NCAA National Championship volleyball team, but she also played a season of professional volleyball with the Atlanta Vibe of Major League Volleyball (MLV) this year (2026).
Pepperdine has seven returners and five newcomers (three freshmen and two transfers).
The Waves are led by head coach Katie Faulkner, who enters her third year with a 29-35 overall record.

ALL TIME SERIES:

This will be the first meeting between Portland State and Pepperdine in four years. The last game against the Waves resulted in a 65-59 loss on Dec. 3, 2022.
The Waves lead the all-time series between them and the Vikings, 5-1. The Vikings' one win came at home on Dec. 10, 2021, when they beat the Waves 75-71.

QUICK HITTERS:

The Vikings enter their second year under head coach Karlie Burris, as well as associate head coach Kerri Nakamoto and assistant coach Hailey King.
Assistant coach Jodi Page joins the Vikings from Sacramento State, where she helped lead the Hornets to a semifinal appearance at the 2026 Big Sky tournament.
After Burris only had one recruit out of 14 players on last year's roster, she will have more ownership of this year's roster having brought in 10 newcomers. She's also coached the Vikings' five returners for a year.
Last season, the Vikings had an overall record of 6-25, 2-16 in Big Sky conference play.
Kyleigh Brown led the team in points (517), points per game (16.7), three-pointers (37), minutes played (1035), field goals (181) and free throws (118).
The Vikings won their exhibition game 111-48 on Oct. 27 against Warner Pacific. If that game had counted, it would have been the highest scoring game in 32 years, dating back to when the Vikings scored 112 points against Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 20, 1994. Additionally, if the game had counted, it would have been the first game with six different Vikings in double figures since Nov. 5, 2019, against Multnomah.
The Vikings won their home opener last season, 89-52, against Willamette on Nov. 11, 2025. That was their highest scoring game of the 2025-26 season, as well as their highest score differential (37).
The 2026-27 Vikings are the youngest team in the Big Sky. They welcome seven true freshmen: Nihoa Dunn, Emma Zuniga, Aspen McClees, Maaya Lucas, Alex Padilla, Maile Starns, and Liv Collins. Two redshirt freshmen hope to see action this season: Kailee Field and Ryme Jaekel.
Three players join the Vikings from the transfer portal for the 2026-27 season: junior Teagan Colvin (UNLV), sophomore Jordyn Smith (Cal Poly Humboldt), and sophomore Sara Barhoum (Oregon).
Besides Field and Jaekel, the Vikings only have three returning faces: Brown, senior Laynee Torres-Kahapea, and senior Kirstine Munk.

COACHING STAFF:

Head coach Karlie Burris returns to the helm for the second year. She has a 6-25 record with the Vikings.
Burris came to the Vikings after being part of a highly successful four-year stretch at UNLV from 2021-25. Serving as an assistant coach under Lindy La Rocque, Burris helped lead the Lady Rebels to four straight Mountain West Conference regular-season titles, as well as three Mountain West Conference tournament titles in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Kerri Nakamoto, associate head coach and Burris' "top draft choice," also enters her second season at Portland State. Nakamoto came to the Vikings after four years as an assistant with Santa Clara University (2021-25). She helped lead the Broncos to a 25-win season and a postseason berth in the WBIT where they made the second round in 2023-24.
Hailey King, assistant coach, followed head coach Karlie Burris from UNLV to Portland State and will serve her second year as an assistant coach for the Vikings during the 2026-27 season.
Jodi King, assistant coach, joins the Vikings for the 2026-27 season. Burris and Page overlapped while both assistant coaches at Cal State Fullerton during the 2019-20 season.