Complete Game Notes (PDF)

GAME NO. 15
Portland State (9-5, 2-0 BSC) at Weber State (5-8, 0-1 BSC)
Thursday, Jan. 8 - 6:00 p.m. (PT)
Ogden, UT - Dee Events Center
Video: www.BigSkyTV.org
Audio: www.GoViks.com
Play-by-Play: Teri Mariani
Live Stats: www.GoViks.com

GAME NO. 16
Portland State (9-5, 2-0 BSC) at Idaho State (4-10, 0-1 BSC)
Saturday, Jan. 10 - 1:05 p.m. (PT)
Pocatello, ID - Reed Gymnasium
Video: www.BigSkyTV.org
Audio: 800 AM KPDQ
Play-by-Play: Teri Mariani
Live Stats: www.GoViks.com

COMING UP: Portland State continues conference play with a games at Weber State and Idaho State. First up is a 6:00 p.m. (PT) game at WSU on Thursday, Jan. 8. The Viks then head to Pocatello, Idaho, to face ISU on Saturday, Jan. 10. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. (PT).

WHAT'S UP NEXT WEEK: PSU plays two games next week, including its final non-conference game at UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 14. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. The Viks then return home to host Northern Colorado on Jan. 17 at 2:05 p.m.

FOLLOW THE VIKINGS ONLINE: You can catch live audio for every Portland State game through www.GoViks.com. Listen to one of the all-time great Vikings, Teri Mariani, call the action during the 2008-09 season. In addition, all home and Big Sky road games will feature audio and video through www.BigSkyTV.org. Finally, all home games and the majority of road games will feature live statistics. Go to the Vikings home page and click on the LIVE STATS link on the right hand side of the page for a listing of current games featuring live statistics.

KAHLE EARNS 11TH CAREER BIG SKY PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONOR: Kelsey Kahle was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Week for games played the week of Dec. 29-Jan.5. Kahle averaged 28.7 ppg as the Vikings went 2-1 at home, including a pair of wins over Sacramento State and Northern Arizona to open up conference play. Kahle started the week with a 30-point performance on Dec. 29 against Utah Valley, a game the Viks dropped in overtime. She went 12 for 12 from the free-throw line to tie a PSU single game record, and also had four steals, four rebounds and three assists. On Jan. 2 in PSU's 81-66 win over Sac State, Kahle poured in 27 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the field. She also went 11 of 14 from the free-throw line and chipped in six rebounds and five assists. Kahle closed out the week with 29 points, seven rebounds and two steals in the Vikings 87-58 win over NAU on Jan. 4. She went 11 of 16 from the field and 7 of 8 from the free throw line. For the week, Kahle shot 59.6 percent from the field and 88.2 percent from the free-throw line. She also averaged 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.0 steals per game. This is the second player of the week award this season for Kahle and the 11th of her career.

300 FOR MURRELL: Head Coach Sherri Murrell coached her 300th-career game at the NCAA Division I level in the Vikings 87-58 win over Northern Arizona on Jan. 4. It was her 45th game at PSU, and she also coached 114 games at Pacific and 141 at Washington State. Overall, it was her 385th game as a collegiate head coach at any level.

JONES SHINES IN HER FIRST SEASON: Freshman guard Eyrn Jones came to the Park Blocks after a stellar prep career at Meadowdale High School in Lynnwood, Wash., and has shown great promise so far this season. Jones is fourth on the squad in minutes played (24.9 mpg) and sixth in scoring (6.8 ppg). But she has had an even bigger impact on the defensive end with 18 steals through 14 games to rank 14th in the Big Sky (1.29 spg). Jones best game as a Vik to date came against Utah Valley on Dec. 29, when she tallied a career-best 19 points and went 5 of 9 from three-point range. Three of her 3-point FGs, and 11 of her points, came in the second half as she and Kelsey Kahle led a furious comeback that sent the game into overtime. Against Gonzaga on Dec. 14, Jones tallied a then-career-high 11 points and went 3 of 6 from 3-point range. She made her first career start at Utah State on Dec. 16 and finished with nine points and two steals. She has now started five straight games and is averaging 9.8 ppg, 3.2 apg and 1.4 spg as a starter. She is also 14th in the conference in assists per game (2.36).

DEPAEPE COMING ON STRONG: Through the first seven games of the season, sophomore walkon forward Kate DePaepe had played in three games and a total of seven minutes, scoring no points and grabbing zero rebounds. That all changed on Dec. 7 at Oregon State when she came off the bench to pull down five rebounds in 12 minutes of action. That performance earned her more minutes as she got 20 in the next game at Gonzaga and finished with five points and six rebounds. She has been one of the Viks most consistent players since the OSU contest, a span of seven games, averaging 16.6 mpg, 6.7 ppg and 5.3 rpg while shooting 55 percent from the floor. On Dec. 29 against Utah Valley, DePaepe set career-highs in minutes (22), points (15) and rebounds (9) while going 6-of-10 from the floor. She also connected on her first career 3-point field goal in the game.

A FEW MORE MILESTONES FOR KAHLE: Senior Kelsey Kahle is arguably one of the greatest players to ever don a Vikings uniform and further put her mark on the PSU women's hoops program when she tallied her 34th-career 20-pt scoring game against Manhattan on Dec. 21 to tie the school record held by Sheri VanLoo. The game also marked her 100th-career game played and 100th-career game started. She followed that up with the sixth 30-point game of her career against Utah Valley on Dec. 29, when she finished with 30 points. That put her into a tie for first place on the career list with VanLoo and Kristi Smith. It also gave her the 35th-career 20-point game of her career, which is now the school record. Kahle has now totalled 1,749 points in her career and against Sac State on Jan. 2 she moved up to No. 2 on the PSU career list, passing Smith, who had 1,709 points from 1992-96. She needs 53 more points to break Lauri Northrop's (1988-92) record of 1,801 points.

THE 30-POINT CLUB: Kelsey Kahle is one of just two players in the Big Sky to have scored at least 30 points in a game this season and the only one to have done it twice. In the win over Seattle on Dec. 5, Kahle scored 31 points and shot 11 of 12 from the floor. The 31 points and 11 FGs made are both conference highs. Her .917 shooting percentage in the game was also a conference season-high and is tied for the second-best single-game mark in PSU history. On Dec. 29 against Utah Valley, Kahle totalled 30 points and went 12 of 12 from the free throw line. Her 1.000 FT percentage ties her for the school record with seven other players (Kahle also went 12 of 12 against Oregon State on Dec. 31, 2005), and she is one of only four players in the conference this year to go perfect at the line (minimum eight attempts).

KAHLE TAKES OVER BIG SKY SCORING LEAD: Kelsey Kahle's 30 point output against Utah Valley on Dec. 29 vaulted her into the Big Sky scoring lead. That performance raised her scoring averaging from 14.5 ppg to 15.8 ppg, and she now is averaging 17.6 ppg on the year and 28.0 ppg in Big Sky games.

PSU IN THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Vikings currently rank in the top 100 nationally in six categories as of Jan. 4 PSU is 21st in assists (16.7), 21st in FT percentage (75.2), 61st in scoring offense (69.9), 64th in assist/turnover ratio (0.87), 83rd in 3-pt FGs made per game (5.9), and 98th in won-lost percentage (64.3). The Viks made a big jump in FT percentage from the last rankings on Dec. 21, vaulting up from 68th. Individually, Claire Faucher is seventh in assists and 38th in assist/turnover ratio. Faucher jumped from 82nd to 38th in assist/turnover ratio. Kelsey Kahle is the only other Viking player ranked as she is 43rd in FG percentage and 48th in scoring.

ABOUT WEBER STATE: The Wildcats have dropped three in a row and are off to a 5-8 start. They lost their conference opener at Northern Colorado on Saturday, 66-53. Junior guard Tonya Schnibbe leads the Big Sky in assists (6.8 apg) and steals (2.5 spg), and is fifth in scoring (13.4 ppg). Sophomore forward Caitlin Anderson leads the squad, and is fourth in the Big Sky, in scoring at 13.5 ppg, while also ranking fifth in the conference in rebounding at 7.5 rpg. Junior guard/forward Ali Thorderson is 11th in the Big Sky in scoring (11.4 ppg) and 19th in rebounding (4.9 rpg). Weber State leads the Big Sky in free throw shooting and is second to PSU in assist/turnover ratio. They have lost to two opponents that PSU defeated earlier this season, BYU and Utah State. The Wildcats are giving up 69.4 ppg and scoring 62.8 ppg, and are shooting just 37.1 percent on the season. While Weber State is just 1-4 on the road, they are 4-3 at home, including a big win over in-state rival Utah on Dec. 19. They also defeated Pac-10 school Washington, 77-66, back on Nov. 19.

SERIES INFO:
? The teams split the seasons series last year after the Wildcats had won three straight.
? Weber State has won nine of the past 11 and 13 of the past 17.
? The Vikings last win in Ogden came during the 2002-03 season, when they picked up a 62-59 victory.

ABOUT IDAHO STATE: The Bengals (4-10) opened Big Sky play with a 60-55 win at Northern Colorado on Jan. 2. That came after they had lost five straight and eight of their past nine games. First year Head Coach Seton Sobolewski returns three starters from last year's team that went 20-10 and finished second in the conference at 12-4. A big reason for ISU's fall off is the graduation of the conference's all-time scoring leader, Natalie Doma. Also gone to graduation is Andrea Lightfoot. The pair were first team all-conference picks last year and averaged a combined 30.7 ppg. Senior guard/forward Michelle Grohs has picked up some slack, as she is sixth in the Big Sky in scoring at 13.4 ppg and fourth in rebounding at 7.6 rpg. Junior forward Oana Iacovita is second on the team, and 17th in the conference, in scoring at 11.0 ppg and third in the Big Sky in rebounding at 7.9 rpg. The Bengals are second in the conference in blocked shots, averaging 3.29 per contest, and Grohs is the conference leader at 1.36 bpg. ISU is averaging 60.5 ppg, while giving up 66.1 ppg, and is getting outrebounded, 41.5-36.1. They are shooting 37.2 percent on the season.

SERIES INFO:
? The Viks swept the season series last year, winning by an average of 29 points. They've also won four of the past six.
? The two teams first met during the 1981-82 season. ISU won that game, 84-82 in two overtimes.
? PSU is 4-8 at Idaho State since joining the Big Sky Conference for the 1996-97 season.