PORTLAND – Portland State erased a 10-point deficit with 8:19 remaining to defeat Binghamton 62-60 and give head coach Sherri Murrell a win in her Viking debut, during a non-conference game Saturday evening at the Peter W. Stott Center.

Freshman forward Kelli Valentine completed the comeback by hitting a jumper with 51 seconds remaining to give the Vikings (1-0) a 59-58 lead. Sophomore forward Erin Yankus hit two free throws with 33 seconds left to make it a three-point game at 61-58.

Senior forward Juta Jahilo made a jumper to pull the Bearcats (0-1) to within one at 61-60 with 25 seconds to go. Sophomore guard Claire Faucher was then intentionally fouled and converted 1-of-2 free throws to make it 62-60 with 17 seconds left.

Binghamton attempted to work the ball inside to tie the game and Valentine was called for a reach-in foul, sending senior center Laine Kurpniece to the charity stripe. Kurpniece, though, would miss both attempts and Portland State came up with the rebound to seal the game.

Junior forward Kelsey Kahle led the Vikings with 18 points, however, Portland State had to complete the rally with Kahle on the bench for the final 3:32 after she picked up her fifth foul.

Kurpniece led three Binghamton players in double figures with 22 points. Junior forward Laura Franceski added 15 points and senior guard Laura Sario netted 10.

A jumper by freshman guard Aerielle Belk gave the Bearcats their biggest lead of the night at 55-45 with 8:19 remaining. Kahle made two free throws to ignite a 10-0 Portland State run, capped by a Faucher jumper to tie the game at 55-55 with 3:56 remaining.

Kurpniece broke the tie with a jumper and was fouled on the play. She converted the free throw to give the Bearcats a 58-55 lead with 3:36 to go. Faucher made 1-of-2 free throws on the Vikings ensuing possession to cut the lead to 58-56, and Yankus later made 1-of-2 charity shots to make it 58-57 with 1:31 to go. Valentine’s jumper would then put the Vikings up for good.

Portland State finished shooting 34.6 percent from the field, hitting on 18-of-52 shots. The Vikings shot 48.1 percent from the field in the first half, but connected on just 5-of-25 shots in the second half. Binghamton shot 34.0 from the floor, hitting on 18-of-53 attempts.

Both teams were opportunistic at the free throw line. Binghamton was 24-of-32, while Portland State converted on 23-of-31 attempts.

The Bearcats held a slight 39-36 edge in rebounds, led by Kurpniece’s game-high nine rebounds.

Senior forward Delaney Conway led Portland State with eight boards.

Portland State will return to action Friday when the Vikings host Utah State. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m., inside the Peter W. Stott Center.

NOTES: The win made Murrell the first Portland State head coach since Greg Bruce in 1986 to win their Viking head coaching debut ... Portland State beat Simon Fraser 89-64 in Bruce’s Viking debut ... The three head coaches between Bruce and Murrell, Jenny Yopp, George Wolfe and Charity Elliott all dropped their first games at Portland State’s head coach ... The Vikings have now won two of their last three season openers, beating Nevada 65-62 to open the 2005-06 season and falling to 88-73 at UC Santa Barbara last season ... Portland State is now 2-0 all-time against the America East Conference ... In their only other game against the America East, the Vikings defeated Maryland-Baltimore County 86-72 at the US International Tournament in San Diego during the 1988-89 season.