Daily Vanguard

March 8th, 2008

Faucher Power

Rallying behind a triple-double from sophomore point guard Claire Faucher, the Portland State Vikings (21-8, 11-5 BSC) took down Montana (23-6, 13-3 BSC) 72-62 Saturday afternoon.

Despite playing without suspended head coach Sherri Murrell, the Vikings rallied to overtake the regular-season Big Sky champion Grizzlies’ on Senior Night. Even with the win, Portland State slips to the No. 4 seed in the Big Sky Tournament.

Murrell was not allowed in the Stott Center gym during the game because of critical comments she made about the Big Sky officiating following Thursday night’s loss to Montana State.

The Vikings honored their lone senior, Delaney Conway, and the forward from Seattle was one of four players to score in double digits for the game, but the performance of the night belonged to Faucher.

The reigning Big Sky Conference’s Most Outstanding Freshman may have staked a claim for further honors this season during the regular season finale. Playing against the conference’s premier squad, Faucher scored 21 points, dished out 10 assists, and grabbed 11 rebounds, earning the first triple-double for a Viking since Kim Manifesto in 1994.

The Grizzlies were hampered by injury and foul trouble much of the game, losing Brittney Lohman well before the second half ended. Montana also lost returning all-conference guard Mandy Morales early in the first half with an ankle injury. Morales would not return. The Grizzlies had already locked up the Big Sky Championship with a win at Eastern Washington Thursday night.

Portland State now heads to Missoula, Mont. where they will likely take on Northern Colorado in the first round of the Big Sky Championship Thursday night.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 8th, 2008 at 4:49 pm and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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