Big Sky Conference

Weber ignores rowdy Vikings, beat PSU in runaway

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The Portland State women’s basketball team brought the rowdiest cheering section of the first day of the Big Sky Conference tournament. Ashley Torres and the Vikings rode the momentum early and looked prone for an upset bid.

In a back and forth first half, Torres’ finish in the lane gave PSU a 31-30 lead with four minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the second quarter to the delight of the Portland State men’s basketball team, who cheered loudly from corner of the Reno Events Center.

Brittney Dunbar and Weber State cranked up their defensive intensity, the Wildcats got contributions from a pair of freshmen and WSU ran away from the Vikings after the first 15 minutes. Dunbar snared four steals to go with 17 points and four assists, freshman Yarden Danan hit five of her six 3-point en rout to a career-high 17 points, freshman Jaiamoni Welch-Coleman juked and spun her way to 16 points and Weber State won going away, posting a 91-68 win in the nightcap of the first day of the BSC Tournament.

“We had the coaches talking to us the whole time and we had people on the bench like (injured standout Regina Okoya) whipping us into shape,” said Dunbar, the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year. “We settled into to what we were supposed to do.

“The cheering didn’t affect us. It’s fun to play with a crowd like that and quiet them down.”

The sixth-seeded Wildcats earned their 20th win of the season and a date with No. 3 Idaho at 8 p.m. PST Wednesday night. During Bethann Ord’s first four seasons, Weber State won nine total Big Sky games, posting an 0-16 record in her first season and an 0-20 mark in Year 2. By her third season, WSU went 3-17 and Year 4 produced a 6-12 record. This season, Weber won 11 Big Sky games and Monday marked the Wildcats’ 20th win.

“I’m so proud of this group of young ladies, how hard they’ve battled day in and day out to get to where we are right now,” Ord said.

“We will continue to grow. Every one of the young ladies on my team I recruited and we talked about our vision of graduating and cutting down nets. I’m so excited for what we’ve put together on the court and off the court. The chemistry with such a diverse group of young ladies from all over the country and the world, how close and how much they take care of each other, I’m really proud and it’s better than I expected.”

Weber State ended the first half on a 15-6 run and opened the second half by winning the third quarter 25-12 to take a commanding lead. The PSU men’s team, who takes on Northern Colorado in the opening game of the men’s tournament, exited the building after the run.

The 11th-seeded Vikings finished the season 4-26. Torres scored 23 points to pace PSU, which managed just 30 second-half points after scoring 33 in the game’s first 17 minutes. PSU fed off the energy provided by their male counterparts for a time but could not overcome the swarming defense of the Wildcats.

“The men’s team being there, we fed off the energy,” said PSU’s Kian McNair, who finished with 16 points. “For us, we really fed off each other. We were ready to play, ready to go and that boosted everything.

“We had trouble translating that after we lost the momentum.”

Danan, a 5-foot-10 freshman from Israel, was left wide open on three separate occasions in the first quarter and knocked down all three triples. She continued to stroke from deep, nailing six of her seven attempts from beyond the arc. Her career high total bested the 15 she scored against Northern Arizona earlier this season. She entered the game playing 13.9 minutes per game.

“She had a good night,” PSU head coach Lynn Kennedy said. “It was miscommunications early. We talked about our screen and pop but we weren’t able to get out on it.”

Welch-Coleman, Weber’s 5-foot-2 Allen Iverson-esque backup point guard, garnered some cheers from the PSU men with her sweet cross over and explosive spin move. She scored a career-high point total thanks to five field goals and six free throws. She also added five of Weber’s 17 assists.

“This year, we have our core but other people need to keep stepping up and they do,” Ord said. “This game it was Yarden. Defensively, that’s always our key. But we had other people get minutes who did very well. It was nice to see.”

 Weber State moved to 20-10 with the victory, WSU’s first 20-win season since 2002-2003. Weber moves into the quarterfinals, where the Wildcats will take on third-seeded Idaho. The teams played once this season, a 77-70 UI win in Ogden last week.

“The girls are hungry for Idaho but we’d like to enjoy this minute,” Ord said. “You only have it once. Everybody all year has been saying every win, enjoy the moment. I would like to breathe for a second and cheer with my whole team. We will get them focused and ready for Idaho. I’m really excited about the next matchup.”

About Colter Nuanez

Colter Nuanez is the co-founder and senior writer for Skyline Sports. After spending six years in the newspaper industry with stops at the Missoulian, the Ellensburg Daily Record and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the former Washington Newspaper Association Sportswriter of the Year and University of Montana Journalism School graduate ('09) has cultivated a deep passion for sports journalism during his 13-year career covering the Big Sky Conference. In August of 2014, Colter and brother Brooks merged their passions of writing and art to found Skyline Sports.

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