The NCAA Tournament will be announced on Monday, March 14 at 4 p.m. PST on ESPN. Portland State will get the automatic berth to the WNIT.

"It's exciting to get together and see who you play,” said Montana’s Head Coach Robin Selvig on playing at the NCAA Tournament. “It's really exciting until you see who you play. We will look forward to it.”

Members of the Big Sky Conference All-Tournament team were: Portland State’s Kelli Valentine and Eryn Jones, Montana’s Kenzie De Boer and Sarah Ena and Eastern Washington’s Tatjana Sparavalo. The tournament’s Most Valuable Player was named to Montana’s Stephanie Stender.

"Obviously it is tough to see someone raise an award in your place, and that's hard to take,” said Portland State’s Head Coach Sherri Murrell. “But at the same time, I'm proud of my team. We've only had two losses at home, one to one of the toughest teams we’ve played in Georgia Tech, and the other to a very hot, very, very driven Montana team. They came to this tournament to play and they showed a lot of heart and grit. I have to commend them. We did it last year doing three games and it's not easy. I think Robin and his crew did a great job of getting their kids to play.''

"Well, I couldn't be prouder of this team,” said Selvig. “That was a great win for us. Portland State is such a good basketball team. They've been so good since the start of conference. They are so explosive and hard to guard, so balanced and play good defense. We've lost a number of tough games to them in a row. It was a great win for us. I think the pressure is a little more on them being at home in that thing. For some reason my ladies came to this tournament and played hard for three, played great and found enough offense to be Big Sky champs.”

In the championship game, Montana opened the game on a 7-0 run before a shot by Courtney Cremer ended the run.

Portland State cut the lead to three with Kelli Valentine's free throws, but Montana had an answer with a Kenzie De Boer jumper. The biggest lead of the half for Montana was eight points but Portland State started to come back.

The Vikings tied the game at 27 with 1:53 left in the first half and Montana took the lead with a Katie Baker jumper. The Vikings had an answer with a free-throw shot by Allie Brock to cut the lead to one but Jordan Sullivan gave Montana a three-point lead.

With 19 second left in the first half, PSU’s Kelli Valentine had a jumper but Montana went into the half with a score of 31-30.

Coming out of the half, Portland State went on a 8-0 run to take the lead with a 3-point play by Eryn Jones. Montana answered with a lay-up by Kenzie De Boer. A defensive stop and lay-up by Jordan Sullivan gave the Grizzlies a two-point lead.

"We kept playing hard on defense,” said Selvig on PSU’s run then a Montana come back. “This team has been great about playing 40 minutes, and let's try to be there at the end. We've been down 18 or 19 this year in some of the games we've won this year. It's been amazing. They are just going to keep playing until the buzzer goes off. That's what we were doing there. There was no panic. That's one thing different than maybe early in the year with a young team and freshman panic. There just wasn't. We had great leadership out of the older kids. We had more composure than we had at Christmas. That's what it takes to come win a game like this on the road.”

The Vikings had an answer and the two teams began to exchange points back and forth. PSU went on a 8-0 run to take a six-point lead with points coming from Cremer and Jones.

Montana was able to cut the lead to three with free-throw shots by Sarah Ena and Katie Baker. The Grizzlies then had a big defensive stop and a Stender three-pointer to tie the game at 52.

"For me, this is my fourth year, and I've had fun every single year,” said Ena on her late free throws. “The first two years we won Big Sky regular season, and won the championship. This is a special year. Every single girl on our team improved themselves. I kind of had a rough start to the game, but when I stepped to the line, it wasn't about me, it was about those girls. I wanted to make sure our team made it back to the dance one more time before Jess, Steph and I graduate. You just think about how much you love your teammates, coaches and program. It just gives you that push and extra composure when you need to hit those down the stretch.''

UM continued their run and soon took a six-point lead. Portland State cut the lead to four with a couple of free-throw shots by Jones and PSU soon cut the lead to two with a shot by Stephanie Egwuatu.

A couple of Montana free throws by De Boer sealed the deal and gave the Grizzlies the win.

Montana was led by Stender and De Boer who had 11 points apiece. Ena added 10 points and Stender led on the boards with six. Portland State was led by Eryn Jones who recorded 19 points and Kelli Valentine had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

This is the Grizzlies 19th championship victory and only Montana’s second win that wasn’t in Missoula. The only other win was in 1992 when UM defeated Boise State 82-67.