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PORTLAND – The Vikings pulled off the upset and defeated the previously undefeated in league play Eastern Washington Eagles, 81-79, Thursday night at the Peter W. Stott Center for their first Big Sky Conference win of the season.
 
Junior G Ashley Torres Negron gave the Vikings what seemed to be a comfortable lead, up 19 points (73-54) with 7:42 remaining in the game. Eastern Washington, which came in with a perfect 7-0 conference record, went on a 12-0 run to cut the lead down to just seven points with 5:07 remaining.
 
Torres Negron came up with another big three-pointer, her fourth of the half, to end the Eagles' run and put the Vikings up by 10. Freshman F Pia Jurhar added a pair of free throws and the lead was back to 12.
 
The Eagles kept up the scoring with 12-straight points to tie the game at 78-78, the first tie of the game since the opening tip, with 60 seconds remaining in the game.
 
Freshman G Michaela Kay came up with the biggest shot of her brief Portland State career with a three-pointer to retake the lead for the Vikings and put them up 81-78.
 
EWU's Hayley Hodgins came into the game as the league's leading scorer but missed a jump shot with 30 seconds remaining. The Eagles got the ball after the rebound was tipped out of bounds by Portland State. Hodgins had a pair of three pointers miss before Torres Negron corralled the ball for the rebound with 15 seconds left.
 
Eastern Washington had fouls to give so they fouled Torres Negron right away. The Vikings got the ball in to Jurhar, who was immediately fouled. Jurhar had a chance to seal the game for Portland State at the line but missed a pair of free throws.
 
Eastern Washington got the rebound off the miss and pushed the ball down court. Torres Negron fouled EWU's Tisha Phillips before she could put up the potential game-tying three-pointer, sending her to the line for two shots.
 
After Phillips made the first of two free throws, Eastern Washington called a timeout with three seconds left on the clock. Phillips intentionally missed the second but the ball did not hit the rim, giving possession to the Vikings. Portland State was able to get the ball inbounds and then ran out the remainder of the clock to secure its first league win of the year.
 
Torres Negron came up big in the second half when the Vikings offense seemed to get a little stagnant. She scored all of her 16 points for the game in the second half including four big three-pointers. She went 5-for-10 from the floor, 4-for-7 from three-point range, and was 2-for-2 at the line. She also pulled down five rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench.
 
Jurhar matched her career-high with 18 points, going 8-for-11 from the floor and 2-for-4 at the line, to lead the Vikings. She came one rebound shy of her second double-double with nine. She also matched her career-high in blocks with four.
 
Sophomore G Cici West came up big for the Vikings with her sixth double-double of the season, second straight. She scored 11 points, going 5-for-10 from the floor and 1-for-2 at the line, while pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds.
 
Freshman G Kian McNair added 12 points, five assists, and a pair of steals to keep her consecutive games with a steal streak alive. Kay added 12 points, five assists, and five rebounds in the game, while fellow freshman guard Corey James added 10 points.
 
Every Portland State starter scored in double-figures in the game, for the first time this season. In all, the Vikings had six players in double-figures.
 
Portland State shot 41.8 percent from the floor and 38.5 percent from three-point range. The Vikings held Eastern Washington to just 37.0 percent shooting in the game. The Vikings out-rebounded the Eagles 49-to-41.
 
Hodgins led all players with 33 points, going 11-for-27 from the floor. Two other Eagles scored in double-digits.
 
Portland State jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter, going up 20-4 following a 14-0 run. Eastern Washington hit a three-pointer at the end of the period to cut the lead to 24-9 after one. The nine points allowed by the Vikings matched the fewest points scored by an opponent in a quarter this season.
 
The Vikings started the game working inside-out. Jurhar did a lot of her damage in the opening frame scoring eight points, with four rebounds and a pair of blocks.
 
Eastern Washington cut into the lead in the second quarter out-scoring Portland State 23-18 but the Vikings still led by 10 points, 42-32, at the half. It was the third time that the Vikings led at the break, they are now 3-0 when they do.
 
The Vikings extended their lead by two points in the third quarter outscoring the Eagles 20-18, which set up the wild fourth quarter.
 
Torres Negron hit back-to-back threes to open the fourth and put the Vikings up 18. Two-minutes later she hit another three-pointer to put them up 19. Then came the run by the Eagles and the game-winning three-pointer by Kay, as the Vikings picked up their first league win.
 
Portland State improved to 3-15 overall and 1-6 in Big Sky play, while Eastern Washington fell to 13-7 and 7-1.
 
Portland State is back home on Saturday, when it hosts the Idaho Vandals at the Stott Center. Tip is slated for 2 p.m. PT.
 
NOTES: Portland State had six players in double-figures, including all five starters … Pia Jurhar matched her career highs in points (18) and blocks (4) … Cici West recorded her sixth double-double, second straight, with 11 points and 14 rebounds … Portland State is now 3-0 when leading at half.