PORTLAND – The Vikings found themselves on the wrong end of a game of runs as they fell to the Warner Pacific Knights, 76-64, Saturday afternoon at the Peter W. Stott Center.
 
Portland State went on a 9-0 run to go up 22-14 late in the first period before Warner Pacific closed out the period with a 10-0 run to take a 24-22 lead after one.
 
The Vikings cut the lead to one point, 34-33, with 4:31 left in the first half on a three-pointer from freshman G Michaela Kay. That would be the final points of the Vikings in the half, as the Knights took a 42-33 lead at the break.
 
Kay scored 12 of her team-high 15 points in the first half going 4-for-7 from the floor and 4-for-6 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes. The Knights keyed on her defensively in the second half, she went just 1-of-4 with a three-pointer over the final 20 minutes.
 
Kay leads the team on the season with 14.3 points per game and has a pair of double-digit games under her belt already. She has hit multiple three-pointers in all three games and has hit five three-pointers in a game twice, as she did Saturday.
 
After shooting 41.4 perfect from the floor in the first half, the Vikings shot 33.3 percent in the second. Portland State turned the ball over 19 times in the final 20 minutes, which led to 12 extra points for Warner Pacific.
 
The Vikings turned up the pressure defensively late in the game and cut the lead to single digits. When they needed a run most, they could not get one and they fell by the final 76-64 margin.
 
Senior F Alicia Carline and junior G Ashley Torres Negron each added nine points for the Vikings. Freshman F Pia Jurhar added six points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Portland State had a plus-15 rebounding margin (46-to-31) but could only turn the advantage into six second chance points.
 
Warner Pacific's Kendra Preuninger led all scorers with 19 points in the game. Teammate Daesha Jackson added 18.
 
Portland State fell to 0-3 on the season with the loss.
 
The Vikings are back home for a pair of games over Thanksgiving week. They host cross-town rival the University of Portland on Tuesday, Nov. 24. They then host UC Davis on Friday, Nov. 27. Both games are slated for 7 p.m. starts.