2009-10 Schedule Link

2009-10 Printable Schedule (PDF)

PORTLAND, Ore. ? The Portland State women's basketball team has released its schedule for the 2009-10 season and it features 15 home games, including two against Pac-10 schools.

Coming off their best season at the NCAA Division I level and a trip to the WNIT, the Vikings will play 29 games this upcoming year. PSU opens the season on Friday, November 14 with a home date against the Washington Huskies of the Pac-10 Conference.

The Vikings face a tough three-game stretch at home in early December with home games against UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 3), Pacific (Dec. 6) and Gonzaga (Dec. 13). Both UCSB and Gonzaga reached the NCAA Tournament last season.

In all, PSU will take on six teams that made the postseason last year. The Viks face defending Big Sky champion and NCAA Tourney participant Montana twice in conference action. Additionally, they have games against WNIT teams Oregon State, Portland and Wisconsin. PSU and OSU meet up at the Stott Center on Dec. 29.

Portland State will also play three games in the World Vision Basketball Tournament hosted by Oregon, Nov. 27-29 at McArthur Court.

After 13 non-conference games to open the season, the Vikings will start Big Sky Conference action on the road at Sacramento State on January 2.

Due to budget cuts, the Big Sky Conference has implemented a Friday-Saturday format for games, instead of playing on Thursdays and Saturdays. The only exception will be PSU's trip to Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado in mid-February.

"This is a challenging schedule with top level teams," said third-year Head Coach Sherri Murrell. "We are always wanting tough tests to help us prepare for conference and post season.

"It's very rare to get two Pac-10 teams at home in one season and we are pretty excited about that. We are also excited to bring three top Northwest teams (Gonzaga, Oregon State, and Washington) to the Stott Center."

The Vikings went 23-10 a year ago and narrowly missed out on making the NCAA Tournament. They lost to Montana in the conference tournament championship game, but still were selected to play in the WNIT. It was PSU's first-ever postseason appearance at the DI level.

PSU loses two starters from last season, including the school's all-time leading scorer and rebounder, Kelsey Kahle. But they do welcome back two-time first team All-Big Sky guard Claire Faucher (Sr., Yakima, WA) and honorable mention All-BSC forward Kelli Valentine (Jr., Spokane, WA).