Phoenix, AZ - The Portland State women's golf team pulled off a double championship day as the Vikings held off Northern Arizona to capture the Big Sky Conference team title, and Hannah Bews shot a career-best, even-par 72 to win the individual title at Foothills Golf Club.

Both Viking victories came by two strokes and came down to the final hole of the tournament. With a one-shot team and individual lead in the final threesome of the day, Bews made a tap-in birdie on the closing hole, a 399-yard par four. The deciding shot was a 140-yard, downwind approach.

"I asked (Head Coach) Kathleen (Takaishi) how I was laying (on 18). I knew I was playing good, but so were the players around me," Bews said. "We talked through the shot I was going to play into the green, I got into my pre-shot routine, stepped up to it and hit it to about a foot."

The Vikings won the Big Sky Championship under Takaishi, who is in her first-year as head coach, after being picked in the preseason coaches poll to place fifth.

"It is exciting to win this. They have been really close to playing well all spring. One person has played well at each event. We finally just peaked at the perfect time," said Takaishi.

"We all played really good," Bews said. "We've been working toward it all season and just waiting for something like this to happen. We've all been playing well at times, it just hadn't been coming all at once."

Following her tournament title, Bews, a native of Ringwood, Hampshire in the UK, called home to find family members following live scoring on a computer. "It was about 11 o'clock there, they were following me every hole on the computer, and they were real happy for me. It's late, but I think they are going to have another drink or two."

PSU opened the tournament in third place with a first-round 306 on Monday to trail Eastern Washington by six shots. On Tuesday, the Vikings shot a tournament-best round of 297 to leap over the Eagles and Northern Arizona into first place.

At 603, Portland State held a six-shot lead over Northern Arizona (609) going into Wednesday's final round of play, with Eastern lurking just another shot back (610).

As a team, PSU saw its lead shrink to three shots at the turn on Wednesday. The Lumberjacks continued to make up ground, briefly took the lead, and were tied with the Vikings with three holes to play for three players on each team. At that point, Eastern Washington was still in contention at five shots back.

But, the Vikings remained steady, getting solid play over the closing holes.

Bews became just the second Viking in history to win the Big Sky Conference individual title. She came from two shots behind Northern Arizona's Ali Carter, who shot 76, in the final round. It was Bews' first title of any kind at Portland State as she set new personal records for a round (72) and a 54-hole event (220). She came into the Big Sky Championship with an 81.81 scoring average, but posted nine birdies over three days and finished at four-over par with 73-75-72=220.

Bews took the lead at the turn on Wednesday after posting an even-par 36 on the front nine. Playing in the same group with Bews, second-round leader Ali Carter of Northern Arizona make back-to-back double bogeys on eight and nine, dropping to second place. But, Carter played the last seven holes in one-under par. The Viking sophomore answered with an even-par back nine as well, including the final birdie. Bews knocked her final approach to three feet for a tap-in.

"Hannah was definitely nervous coming down the stretch but was able to get through it," Takaishi said of Bews. "She actually played very well at Stanford (last week), so it was just a matter of time before everything clicked."

For the record, the Vikings shot 306-297-308=911 to win the title by two shots over Northern Arizona (302-307-304=913) and three shots over conference-favorite Eastern Washington (300-310-304=914).

Portland State's 911 team total ranks fourth best in school history. It is eclipsed only by the other three times that the Vikings won the Big Sky Championship (886, 2004; 905, 2005; and 905, 2003). Now with four Big Sky Conference Championships in the past six seasons, the Viking women's golf team has won more Big Sky titles than any other PSU program.

With the Big Sky Conference Championship, Portland State earns a trip to an NCAA Regional Tournament on May 8-10. The West Regional, a likely destination, takes place in Sacramento.

ALL-AROUND EFFORT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
PSU had contributions from all five golfers during the Big Sky Championship on the way to the title. Despite Eastern Washington being the heavy favorite, and Northern Arizona a strong second in the league throughout the year, the young Viking squad answered the challenge.

Top player Kayla Morinaga opened with an 80 on Monday, but rallied to a 75 in each of the next two rounds. Her back-nine even-par 36 on Wednesday was vital to holding off the Eagles and Lumberjacks. With 80-75-75=230, Morinaga tied for 10th place overall.

"Kayla has been struggling all spring," said Takaishi. "We worked on her putting a little after the first round Monday. Then she just played well yesterday and today and that definitely helped us."

Along with Morinaga, freshman Alexia Brown scored all three days for the Vikings with steady play. She was in fourth place after 36 holes at six over par. However, Brown was six over in her Wednesday round through 11 holes. She played the final seven in just one over par, and finished 75-75-79=229 to place ninth in the tournament.

Danielle Ranallo shot 82 on Wednesday, but her 78 on Monday counted toward the team score as the Vikings put themselves in position to contend for the title. Ranallo, a sophomore, shot 78-79-82=239 to tie for 27th among the 45 golfers.

The biggest surprise of the week was a second-round 72 by freshman Aubrey Vaughn. It was eight shots better than any previous spring round by Vaughn, and became a major factor in the Vikings' final two-shot championship margin. Vaughn placed 26th overall at 81-72-85=238.

"Aubrey was huge for us," said Takaishi. "She put us in a position to win yesterday playing a round like she did. She really set us up to take the lead and just hang onto it."

TOURNAMENT NOTES: Taya Battistella is the previous Viking to win Big Sky medalist honors for the Vikings in 2001 and 2003... Hannah Bews (t15th to 1st) and Kayla Morinaga (19th to t10th) each had big improvements over their performance in the 2007 Big Sky Championship Tournament when the Vikings placed third... in addition to Bews' career-best scoring marks, Aubrey Vaughn (239) and Alexia Brown (229) each established new personal bests for 54-hole events... Morinaga will take a team-leading 78.20 scoring average to the NCAA Regional Tournament. Brown's scoring average is 79.82 this season. Bews has an 80.93 average. Ranallo stands at 81.35, and Vaughn is at 82.93... Portland State's second-round score of 297 was the best of any team in the tournament. It also ranks as the ninth-best round in school history... Kathleen Takaishi is in her first head coaching position. A former assistant at Oregon State, she was hired at Portland State on Feb. 4 of this year... Bews joined Morinaga as the only Vikings' with individual title this season. Morinaga won the Heather Farr/Colorado Memorial on Oct. 1-2, shooting a career-best 74-69-71=214. PSU has five individual tournament titles and seven team tournament titles in 11 seasons as a competitive program... Portland State University has now won three Big Sky Conference championships this year (women's golf, volleyball, men's basketball) - tying for the most it has won in an academic year.

Big Sky Conference Golf Championship
Foothills Golf Club, Phoenix, AZ
Apr. 21-23, 2008
par 72, 6,131 yards
9 teams, 45 golfers

Team scores
1. Portland State, 306-297-308=911
2. Northern Arizona, 302-307-304=913
3. Eastern Washington, 300-310-304=914
4. Montana, 310-307-304=921
5. Sacramento State, 321-307-300=928
6. Northern Colorado, 308-309-322=939
7. Montana State, 326-314-308=948
8. Weber State, 327-320-311=958
9. Idaho State, 336-321-329=986

Top Individual Scores
1. Hannah Bews, PSU, 73-75-72=220
2. Ali Carter, NAU, 74-72-76=222
3. Carrisa Simmons, UM, 81-72-70=223
4. Samantha Saffold, SAC, 75-78-73=226
t5. Sophia Choi, NAU, 74-77-76=227
t5. Chloe Nelson, EWU, 77-76-74=227
t7. Anna Maria Jaramillo, UM, 76-75-77=228
t7. Kellie Holmstedt, EWU, 71-78-79=228
9. Alexia Brown, PSU, 75-75-79=229
t10. Kayla Morinaga, PSU, 80-75-75=230
t10. Brooke Green, SAC, 75-78-77=230
t10. LaRae Smith, MSU, 78-75-77=230
t10. Kristina Gargaro, EWU, 78-75-77=230

other Viking scores
26. Aubrey Vaughn, 81-72-85=238
t27. Danielle Ranallo, 78-79-82=239