Sports - Local Colleges

POSTED: Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Vikings lose exhibition to Portland State

A furious rally midway through the second half fell short as Western Washington University lost 80-66 to NCAA Division I Portland State University in an exhibition women's basketball game Saturday, Nov. 7, in Portland, Ore.

Guard Amanda Dunbar led the NCAA II Vikings with a game-high 18 points, 13 in the first half. Forward Willow Cabe had 17 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots; and center Jessica Summers added 13 points, seven rebounds and five steals.

Western was without starting center Lauren Hefflin, who will be out six weeks because of a fractured middle finger on her left hand suffered in an exhibition game with Simon Fraser on Nov. 1.

Portland State, picked to win the Big Sky Conference in both the preseason coaches and media polls, was paced by forward Lexi Bishop with 16 points.

Forward Kelli Valentine had 14 points, five steals and four assists; two-time first-team BSC all-star Claire Faucher had 10 points and five assists and center Katy Wade added a game-high 10 rebounds and eight points.

"We are just a little bit undersized right now," Western coach Carmen Dolfo said in a press release. "But the great thing was that we didn't quit, we kept fighting and played them much better in the second half. We just didn't come out with confidence, but then we settled in and played a lot better."

Western trailed by 29 points, 62-33, with 14:17 remaining in the contest before going on a 28-11 run that cut the deficit to 12 points, 73-61, on a layup by guard Megan Pinske with 3:45 left. But that was as close as the Vikings would get.

Cabe had nine points during that 11-minute stretch.

Western fell behind, 26-10, in the game's opening 11 minutes. The Vikings cut the lead to six, 26-20, before Portland State upped it to 22 points, 46-24, with 1:15 left in the period. Dunbar had a layup and 3-pointer in the final minute as Portland State led, 46-29, at halftime.

Pinske scored 10 points for Western on 5-of-7 field-goal shooting.