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There was a hum of conversation at the downtown Buffalo Wild Wings late Thursday afternoon. The Portland State women's basketball team was sitting around a long table, the players in black sweat pants and green Vikings long-sleeved shirts. They were drinking sodas and eating wings. Coach Sherri Murrell was chatting with people while holding her new baby boy, Rylan, in her arms.
Then the two big-screen TVs set on ESPNews flashed that in the Seattle regional first round of the NCAA tournament, the 15th-seeded Vikings would take on the second seed, Texas A&M.
The restaurant exploded. The Vikings players cried out in joy and excitement. Fans cheered. Murrell raised the arm she was not holding Rylan with and pumped it in the air. When she had calmed Rylan down, after he became startled by the noise, Murrell gave high fives to her players and hugged senior point guard Claire Faucher.
The 2009-2010 Vikings are the first women's team in school history to make it to the NCAA Tournament. The Viks traveled through the season, sometimes following the path of greatest resistance. But with the lights of the Big Sky championship game on them Saturday night, the fifth-seeded Vikings defeated Montana State 62-58 and clinched their tourney spot. They became the lowest seed to ever win the conference tournament.
"This is a program that five years ago won three games," Murrell says. "And now we're going to the tournament."
The Vikings came into the season picked to win the Big Sky title. They only managed a 9-7 season in conference, though, and went 18-14.
"We got ranked first, and we did our best to get fifth," Murrell says, laughing. "We made it so hard to get there. (But) if the path has a lot of obstacles and a lot of rough spots, it really makes it worthwhile at the end."
Murrell points to the first game of the Big Sky tournament, when the Vikings beat Idaho State 75-61, as the defining moment of the season.
"I saw how relaxed the players were, and that's when I said, 'We're going to win this thing,' " Murrell says.
