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PORTLAND, Ore. – On a night where Portland State was missing its leading scorer and rebounder, a senior that hasn't seen much playing time lately was the star of the Vikings' 53-47 victory over Montana on Thursday at the Stott Center.

PSU entered the matchup needing a win to keep its conference title hopes alive, but before the game even tipped off, the Vikings were dealt a blow when one of their best players, Courtney VanBrocklin, was suspended for a violation of team rules. Head Coach Sherri Murrell turned to Kelly Marchant, who had played just 26 minutes and scored no points over the past six games, for an offensive spark and the senior delivered big time.

Marchant led the Vikings with 13 points, hitting three 3-pointers, as Portland State had to grind out a victory against a tough Montana squad.

"Our leading scorer, our leading rebounder is out and Kelly Marchant has been sitting the bench all year. I told her, 'Kelly we need you,'" said Murrell.

"I said at the beginning of the year that our depth is going to make us a good team down the stretch and that is what happened. Kelly helped win us the game. That is the bottom line."

The Vikings (18-10, 11-4 Big Sky) trailed at the half by one and watched as Montana pushed its lead to 30-23 with 14:56 to go. The Lady Griz later held a 34-28 advantage at the 11:58 mark, before Portland State finally started to find its shooting touch.

A Marchant 3-pointer from the left wing with 11:44 remaining kickstarted the Vikings' offense and the rally was on.

Montana went in front 38-33 on a bucket by Lexie Nelson, before Stephanie Egwuatu and Kelli Valentine made two straight shots to bring PSU within one. After Montana's Katie Baker made it 40-37 with a jumper, Marchant drilled another three-pointer to tie it up with 7:27 left.

Just over a minute later, Jones blocked a shot by Nelson and Marchant came up with the loose ball. She dribbled to half court and then found a streaking Jones for a layup. Baker tied it back up on Montana's next possession, but when Jones stole the ball and hit Marchant for a fastbreak layin with 4:30 to go, the Vikings led 44-42 and never trailed again.

Lexi Bishop appeared to seal the victory for the Vikings on a three-pointer that made it 51-42 with 1:18 left, but the Lady Griz scored six unanswered points to put a scare into the pro-Portland State crowd.

Montana was eventually forced to foul Marchant with 20.8 seconds left and the Oregon City High product stepped to the line and calmly sank both free throws to put the game out of reach.

Marchant was quick to deflect praise after the game, saying "we were a player down, so the bench had to step up and get what they could done."

An ugly first half produced just 39 combined points as both teams shot below 28 percent.

Portland State started with the hot hand, scoring the game's first nine points. Twenty-five seconds in, Jones found Shauneice Samms down low for an easy basket and 37 seconds later, Valentine made it 4-0 with a shot in the paint. Samms put the Vikings up 7-0 with an old-fashioned three-point play and then Valentine hit a jumper from 15-feet out at the 17:38 mark.

From there, though, both teams had trouble making shots until Nelson hit a 3-pointer with 12:26 left in the period that finally got the Lady Griz finally got on the scoreboard.

The Vikings led 19-16 with 3:03 until halftime, but Montana scored the final four points and went into the break up 20-19.

Portland State finished the game shooting just 38.2 percent, but Montana was worse with a 33.3 percent mark.

The Vikings suffered through one of their worst shooting performances of the year from behind the arc, going just 5 of 20, but made three of their final five.

Valentine was the only other Viking to reach double-figures, scoring 12 points and also pulling down eight rebounds. Jones matched her career-high by dishing out nine assists, while also grabbing three steals.

Montana (14-14, 9-6 Big Sky) was led by Baker, who had 14 points, and Kenzie De Boer, who had a game-high nine rebounds.

PSU closes out the regular season by hosting Montana State on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Bobcats won tonight and are tied with the Vikings for second place in the Big Sky at 11-4. Both teams are one-game back of Northern Colorado (12-3), who finishes at Idaho State, also on Saturday.

NOTES: For the Vikings to win their first Big Sky regular season title, they must win Saturday and have UNC lose at Idaho State ... PSU has won five straight over Montana, including four in a row at home, both of which are firsts ... the Vikings swept the season series with the Lady Griz for the second consecutive year and for just the third time in 15 seasons as a member of the conference ... PSU has won five straight games for the second time this year. They've also won 11 of their last 13 ... Jones saw her streak of making at least one three-pointer in 12 straight games come to an end ... Egwuatu had a career-best two steals ... PSU matched its win total of last year when they went 18-15 ... PSU had to rally from a halftime deficit for the second straight game ... the Vikings' 19 first-half points were their fewest of any period all season long ... VanBrocklin will be back for Saturday's game ... the Vikings four seniors – Bishop, Marchant, Valentine and Courtney Cremer – will be honored prior to tip off on Saturday ... Bishop and Valentine each played in their 123rd career game, making them the all-time leader in games played at PSU. They passed up ex-Viking great Kelsey Kahle ... Marchant jumped up from seventh to fifth all-time in 3-pointers made at PSU (126).