Dec. 6, 2009
Box Score
Portland, Ore. - Playing their second game in the Pacific Northwest over the weekend, the Pacific women's basketball team found themselves on the wrong end of a 75-57 decision at Portland State, falling to the Vikings on Sunday, December 6.
The loss dropped the Tigers to 1-5 on the year while the Vikings improved to 4-5.
In the contest, junior Jennifer Fath (Carrollton, Texas) led the Tigers offensively with 15 points after hitting 7-of-14 shots from the field.
Early on, Portland State put the pressure on Pacific, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead before the Tigers posted their first basket of the afternoon off of a Christina Thompson (Sacramento, Calif.) lay-up at 18:44 to cut the lead at 4-2. After the first rebound of the game, Kelli Valentine left the floor for Portland State with a sprained ankle only 10 seconds into play. But 15 minutes into the half, the Vikings powered out to a 14-0 run that cornered Pacific to an 18-2 deficit at 14:44.
In the next four minutes, the Tigers retaliated with an 11-2 run led by six points from Fath. Capped off by a jumper from sophomore Eliza Dy (Chino Hills, Calif.) the Tigers reeled back the Vikings, trailing 20-13 with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half. At 7:19, the Vikings continued to hold a six-point advantage with a 28-22 lead over the Tigers. But Portland State continued to attack the bucket, compiling a steady lead over the remaining seven minutes of the half.
A high point came at 6:17 for the Tigers, when they took leading scorer Claire Faucher out of the game after she committed her second foul in the contest. That benched Faucher who, prior to Sunday's contest, was averaging 14.4 points per game.
At the end of the first half, Pacific hit the locker rooms trailing by 12, 41-29.
Into the second half, Kelly Marchant drained a three to put Portland State back up with a 13-point lead at 17:25 on the scoreboard, 44-31. However, Pacific did not fold as they steadily compiled a charge to come within eight at 13:34 when freshman
Erica McKenzie (Sparks, Nev.) sank a trey to bring Pacific to a 48-40 deficit. It was Marchant again who brought the victory even closer down the wire for the Vikings.
Under the 10-minute mark remaining in the game, at 9:46, Marchant tallied a fast break lay-up to secure a 15-point Viking lead, 55-40. Portland State's lead steadily increased to 21 behind Marchant's offensive prowess, when another fast break lay-up at 5:06 gave the Vikings a dangerous 67-41 lead. That lead increased to 22 points (71-49) at 2:23 but a pair of free throws from freshman
Jordan Rogers (Sparks, Nev.) gave Pacific its 50th point, 71-50 at 2:12.
Down the stretch, Thompson contributed two more lay-ups from the post to give Pacific its final score of 75-57.
Marchant led all players in the effort with a career high of 30 of Portland State's points. Kate Wade was the only player on the floor to record a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
In addition to Fath's team-leading 15 points, Thompson finished second for the Tigers in scoring with 12 points, just two shy of her career-high set at Portland on Friday, Dec. 4.
After wrapping up this four-game road swing, Pacific returns home to the Alex G. Spanos Center with a 7 p.m. tip-off against San Francisco on Thursday, Dec. 10.
