In women’s basketball action Saturday, Northern Colorado lost to Idaho State and Portland State defeated Montana State.  The results mean the 2011 Big Sky Women's Basketball Championship will be played at the Stott Center in Portland.

Portland State and Northern Colorado tied for the regular-season title, but the Vikings earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of its season sweep of Montana State. The Vikings and Bears received byes to Friday's semifinals. It's the first regular-season titles for both teams. Portland State won last year's postseason tournament.

On Thursday in quarterfinal action, No. 3 Montana State will play No. 6 Eastern Washington. No. 4 Montana will play No. 5 Idaho State. Thursday's quarterfinals will begin at 6 p.m. with MSU taking on EWU. The second game will follow. Friday's semifinals will begin at 6 p.m. with the first game featuring No. 2 seed Northern Colorado. Saturday's championship game will begin at 3 p.m. Mountain and will air live on Altitude.

Idaho State defeated Northern Colorado 69-61. The Bears had the lead going into half by the Bengals took the lead and there was no looking back. The biggest lead of the second half was 10 points. Northern Colorado cut the lead to four with a minute left in the game but ISU went on a 6-2 run to finish the game. Idaho State was led by Lindsey Reed, scored scored a career-high 29 points. Chelsea Pickering added 18 and Ashleigh Vella had 12. Northern Colorado was led by Kaisha Brown who had 17 points and Lauren Oosdyke added 16. ISU shot 51.2 percent from the field to the Bears 36.8 percent.

Portland State had a seven-point lead going into the half. Montana State was able to cut the lead to two with 7:26 left in the game.  Montana State then cut the lead to one but a shot by Eryn Jones gave PSU a three-point lead. MSU ties the game at 63 with 12 seconds left in the game but a couple of free throws by Jones and a missed 3-pointer by MSU gave PSU a 65-63 win. The Vikings were led by Jones who had 23 points and Kelli Valentine had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Montana State was led by Sarah Balian who had 17 points, Katie Bussey added 16 points, Ausha Cole had 13 and Rachel Semansky recorded 11. PSU shot 43 percent from the field to MSU’s 42 percent.

Eastern Washington opened the game on a 9-0 run over Montana but the Lady Griz was able to go on a run and take a 11-point lead going into the half. The Eagles were able to cut the lead to two before UM went on a 8-1 run. EWU cut the lead to three with a Brianne Ryan lay-up but UM kept the lead and won 66-60. The Eagles were led by Ryan who had 22 points and Tatjana Sparavalo added 12. Julie Piper led on the boards with 15. Montana was led by Katie Baker who had 18 points and Jordan Sullivan added 12. UM shot 40.7 percent from the field to EWU’s 32.3 percent.

Sacramento State got their first win of the conference season after defeated Weber State 69-54. With the game tied at seven SAC went on a 32-11 run to take a 21-point lead. The biggest lead of the first half for the Hornets was 28 points. Weber State was never able to catch up in the second half. SAC was led by four players who had double digit points. Kylie Kuhns and Tika Koshiyama-Diaz led the way with 12 points apiece and Natasha Torgerson and Sami Field-Polisso both added 11. SAC shot 36.8 percent from the field to WSU’s 31.7 percent. Weber State was led by Caitlin Anderson who had 17 points and Amanda Hughes had 15.

For more on Saturday’s games, click the link below:

Idaho State 69, Northern Colorado 61 | Stats

Portland State 65, Montana State 63 | Stats

Montana 66, Eastern Washington 60 | Stats

Sacramento State 69, Weber State 54 | Stats