GRAND FORKS, N.D. – Sidney Rielly scored a career-high 27 points but the Vikings were not able to pull off the Big Sky Conference opening road win, falling 65-61, Thursday night at North Dakota.
 
Rielly, a sophomore guard from Everett, Wash., scored a career-high 27 points on a career-high 12 field goals to lead all scorers. She went 12-for-21 from the floor with a three-pointer. She pulled down three rebounds, had two assists, along with a steal. Rielly has led the Vikings in scoring eight times this season and has posted six 20-point games.
 
Sophomore F Courtney West was the only other Viking in double-digits with 14 points, going 7-for-11. She pulled down seven rebounds and had a game-high four blocks. It was her sixth game with three-or-more blocks on the year.
 
Portland State (6-7 overall, 0-1 Big Sky Conference) shot .433 from the floor, going 26-for-60, and held North Dakota (6-6, 1-0) to just .338 (23-68) from the floor. The Achilles heel for the Vikings, as it has been all year, was turnovers. They turned the ball over 21 times, which led to 19 points for the Fighting Hawks.
 
North Dakota scored the first eight points of the contest, holding Portland State scoreless for the first 4:04 of the game. Rielly scored the Vikings' first basket with a three-pointer as the Vikings outscored the Fighting Hawks 11-2 to take an 11-10 lead at the end of the first.
 
Sophomore G Kian McNair gave the Vikings a 13-10 lead before a 7-0 run by UND gave the Fighting Hawks a 20-10 lead with 5:40 remaining in the half. The Vikings started to cut away at the lead and pulled within three, 24-21, after a three-pointer from sophomore G Corey James and a free throw by Rielly. North Dakota scored the final three points of the half and led 27-21 at the break.
 
Despite being down by six, Portland State outshot North Dakota .333-to-.289 in the first half. They turned the ball over 13 times over the first 20 minutes, leading to 11 points by the Fighting Hawks. Rielly led the team with eight points at the half while West added six points, four rebounds and three blocks.
 
The Vikings stormed out of the gates in the second half. Rielly got out on a fast break followed by a three-pointer from sophomore G Michaela Kay. Back-to-back buckets from Rielly gave the Vikings their first lead of the season half at 30-29.
 
North Dakota's Bailey Strand hit a three-pointer to give the Fighting Hawks the lead at 32-30. After the Vikings retook the lead, 34-32 after another Rielly fast break layup, Strand again hit a three-pointer to put UND up. North Dakota went up by seven after a pair of free throws but Kay hit another three-pointer to pull within two at 43-41. Another three-pointer by UND gave it the 46-41 lead at the end of the third.
 
Portland State went 9-for-15 from the floor with 11 rebounds in the third quarter but only picked up one point on the scoreboard due to North Dakota's three-point shooting.
 
The Vikings pulled within one a few times in the early stages of the fourth quarter. Back-to-back three-pointers by the Fighting Hawks put them up seven with 5:32 left in the game. They went up by eight, 62-54, but the Vikings would not go away. Sophomore G Ashley Bolston hit just her second basket to make it 62-56 with 1:57 left. A three-point play by Rielly cut the lead to three with 12 seconds left.
 
A Portland State foul and two UND free throws put the Fighting Hawks up by five. Rielly cut it to three with six seconds left on a layup off an inbounds pass. After another PSU foul and a UND free throw, the Vikings trailed by four and their last second three fell short as they fell 65-61.
 
Makailah Dyer led UND with 18 points in the game. She went 5-for-12 from the floor with a trio of three-pointers. The Fighting hawks had two other players in double-figures.
 
Portland State heads to Greeley, Colo. where the Vikings will take on the Northern Colorado Bears Saturday, Dec. 31 at 11 a.m. PT. Northern Colorado came back to defeat Sacramento State, 95-88, Thursday night in its Big Sky opener.
 
NOTES:
• Sophomore G Corey James earned her first start of the season.
• Sophomore G Sidney Rielly scored a career-high 27 points on a career-high 12 field goals.
• Rielly recorded her sixth 20-point game of the season.
• Rielly had 10+ field goals for the third time this season.
• Sophomore G Ashley Bolston pulled down a career-high nine rebounds to lead the Vikings.