Carly Meister helped lead the Vikings to the program’s best Division I season in her first year as a full-time assistant for Portland State.
The Vikings won only their second Big Sky tournament title during the 2018-19 season, and advanced to the NCAA tournament for only the second time in program history. The 2018-19 Vikings also made history while going 25-8 overall, the most wins in a season during the program’s Big Sky era. The Vikings also tied Big Sky era records for home wins (14) and Big Sky wins (14), and set a new Big Sky era record for road winning percentage (.615).
March runs have been common during Meister's tenure at Portland State. In four seasons on the Park Blocks, Meister has helped the Vikings make the semifinals in 2018 and the quarterfinals in 2020 and 2021, in addition to the 2019 tournament title. The 2021 tournament featured the most complete game of the season for the 2020-21 Vikings, as they beat Eastern Washington 71-51 in the first round. The 20-point margin of victory was the biggest of the season against a Division I opponent, as the Vikings put things together following a pandemic-altered regular season.
The Vikings practiced 5-on-5 only 25 times during the 2020-21 season, a fraction of what they would have done normally. Despite that, the Vikings were 6-2 in games decided by three points or less, with Jada Lewis (vs. NAU on Feb. 11 & SUU on March 5), Kylie Jimenez (vs. Montana on Feb. 4) and Desirae Hansen (vs. NAU on Feb. 14) all making game-winning plays in the final seconds during the season.
The Vikings went 16-16 in 2019-20, the third straight season where the Vikings were at .500 or above. The Vikings beat Eastern Washington 83-70 in the first round of the Big Sky tournament, the fourth straight season in which the Vikings have won at least one game at the conference tournament.
Meister has coached two of the best post players in program history in Jordan Stotler and Courtney West in her short time at Portland State. Stotler broke West's single-season school record for blocks in 2019-20 after becoming only the third player in Big Sky Conference history to record 100 or more blocks in a year. Stotler also tied West's single-game record with nine blocks in the Vikings' game against then-No. 23 Tennessee.
Meister helped West, meanwhile, become only the second Viking to be named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year in 2018-19, after West led the Big Sky in blocks for the third straight season. West broke her own single-game record with nine blocks against Southern Utah on Jan. 17, and finished the season with 85 blocks, at the time second only to her 94 blocks as a redshirt sophomore in 2016-17.
West became the Vikings’ all-time leader in blocked shots during Meister’s first year in the program during the 2017-18 season. West broke the career record with five blocks in the Vikings’ 82-72 road win over UC Irvine on Dec. 16, 2017. West finished her career with 260 career blocks, more than twice that of the No. 2 player on the career list at Portland State at the time of her graduation. Stotler moved up to No. 2 all time behind West with 146 blocks despite only playing two years at Portland State.
Meister was elevated to a full-time assistant coach ahead of the 2018-19 season, after spending the 2017-18 season as the Vikings’ Director of Basketball Operations and Analysis. In her role as a full-time assistant, Meister serves as the team’s community relations director while assisting in recruiting, scouting, schedule and calendar coordination, social media, academics, on-court coaching and post development.
Meister spent the 2016-17 season as an assistant coach at Centralia College where she helped lead the Trailblazers to an 18-11 overall record and an 11-3 regional record, which qualified them for the Northwest Athletic Conference tournament.
Meister played collegiately at Southern Oregon where she spent three seasons under current PSU head coach Lynn Kennedy. Meister was a three-time All-Cascade Collegiate Conference selection and was named CCC Freshman of the Year in 2012-13. In 2015-16, Meister helped the Raiders to the NAIA National Championship game and was named an NAIA All-American Honorable Mention.
The Elma, Wash. native was a two-time All-State selection at Elma High School where she averaged 24 points and 15 rebounds per game for her career.
Meister graduated from Southern Oregon with a degree in Mathematics in 2016 and will start the Graduate Teacher Education Program at Portland State during the 2018-19 academic year.
