RENO, Nev. – The Vikings played their most complete game of the season with six players scoring in double-figures as they defeated the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, 88-76, in the first round of the 2017 Big Sky Women's Basketball Tournament. It was the Vikings' first Big Sky Tournament win since defeating Eastern Washington in 2011.
 
Portland State (15-16 overall) finished the regular season with its best game of the year and that play continued Monday against Northern Arizona (9-21). The Vikings shot 58.2 percent from the floor and scored 88 points, which is the most points by a Portland State team at the Big Sky Tournament.
 
Portland State shot 40.0 percent in the first quarter but then shot 61.5 percent in both the second and third quarters before closing out the game in the fourth, shooting 71.4 percent (10-for-14). The Vikings scored at will in the second half and dominated in the paint, outscoring the Lumberjacks 36-to-14.
 
The Vikings had six players score in double-figures for the first time this season, led by sophomore G Sidney Rielly. She posted her 11th 20-point game of the year with a game-high 24 points on 10-of-16 from the floor and 4-of-5 at the free-throw line. Rielly's 24 points gives her 504 points on the season, which makes her the first Viking since Kelsey Kahle (546 points) in 2008-09 to surpass the 500-point plateau.
 
Rielly's 10 field goals was not only the sixth time this season that she has posted double-digit field goals, but it gives her and even 200 on the year, which is 10th all-time at PSU for a single season.
 
Courtney West had another big game in the middle for the Vikings. She posted her sixth double-doubled of the year with her fourth-straight double-digit scoring game. Score scored 14 points on 6-of-8 from the floor and 2-of-4 at the line. She pulled down 10 rebounds, and led the team with six assists. She tallied three more blocks, giving her 88 on the year, which puts her in a four-way tie for fourth on the Big Sky's single-season blocks list.
 
Corey James put together a good game with 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists in 31 minutes. Cici West and Ashley Bolston each added 11 points, putting all five starters in double-figures.
 
Bolston, the Big Sky's Top Newcomer, was limited to just four minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls early in the first quarter. She came out in the second half and scored all 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting and an uncharacteristic 2-for-5 at the free-throw line. The Vikings' team free-throw percentage has been trending up during the second half of the year but they went 12-for-17 from the line in the game.
 
Senior G Ashley Torres Negron came off the bench for 11 points, giving the Vikings their sixth player in double-figures. She went 3-for-8 from the floor, including two huge three-pointers late in the game. She went 3-of-4 at the line and added three rebounds and five assists in just 18 minutes.
 
Northern Arizona took a 9-4 lead early in the first quarter after a 5-0 run. Portland State countered with a 12-2 run to go up 16-11 with just over two minutes left in the opening period. The Lumberjacks scored six of the final seven points of the quarter to tie the game at 17-17 at the end of one.
 
Portland State opened the second quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 27-19 lead with just under eight minutes left in the half. Northern Arizona hit three-straight three-pointers to take a one-point lead at 30-29 midway through the second.
                                                   
Rielly came right back with a jumper from the right wing to give the Vikings the lead again at 31-30. After the teams traded points, James hit back-to-back three-pointers over the final 1:30 of the half to put the Vikings up 38-34 at the break.
 
Portland State went up by six, 44-38, before Northern Arizona came back to tie the game at 48-48. The Vikings held The Lumberjacks without a field goal for the final five minutes of the third as they closed out the perid on a 15-4 run to take an 11-point lead (63-52) heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Portland State extended its lead to 13 points on a nice give-and-go from Courtney West to Rielly to open the fourth quarter. A three-pointer from Bolston with 6:07 left put the Vikings up 72-58. Northern Arizona would not go away, hitting back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to 72-64.
 
Northern Arizona cut the lead to nine points twice over the final four minutes of the game but the Vikings answered every time either with a field goal or at the line to secure the 88-76 first round victory.
 
The Vikings secured the ball against the Lumberjacks, turning it over a season-low 10 times, which led to just 10 points for NAU. The Vikings forced 13 turnovers and turned them into 16 points.
 
The win over Northern Arizona give the Vikings a quarterfinal rematch with North Dakota. The Vikings defeated the Fighting Hawks on the final night of the regular season, 81-67, at the Peter W. Stott Center. It knocked UND out of the tournament's No. 1 seed. The Vikings and Fighting Hawks will faceoff on Wednesday, March 8 at 5:35 p.m.
 
NOTES:
• Sophomore F Courtney West recorded her sixth double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
• Sophomore G Sidney Rielly posted her 11th 20-point game of the year with a game-high 24 points.
• Rielly has 504 points on the season, the first Viking over 500 since 2008-09.
• Rielly has 200 field goals on the season, 10th all-time at Portland State.
• Portland State had six players in double-figures for the first time this season.
• Portland State won a Big Sky Conference Tournament game for the first time since 2011.
• Portland State shot .582 percent from the floor, its second-best mark of the season.
• Portland State has scored 80-plus points in two-straight game for the second time this season.