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PORTLAND, Ore. — Senior guard Ashley Bolston posted the first triple-double by a Portland State player in five years while leading the Portland State women's basketball team to a 65-50 win over a talented UC Davis team Friday at the Viking Pavilion.
 
It was a measuring-stick win for the Vikings (3-0), who beat the two-time defending Big West regular-season champions in the Aggies (0-3). Additionally, the Aggies made the WNIT quarterfinals last season, giving the Vikings a win over a 2017-18 postseason team as they chase their own postseason berth this season.
 
"Just a great team win," Portland State head coach Lynn Kennedy said after the game. "We knew that UC Davis was a great team, but we knew we were a good team, too. I think for us it's about going out there and executing. We talked a lot about how it's not really about UC Davis, it's about us and how we execute and play defense. We're getting to that point now where we can talk about it and then actually go on the court and do it. We're in the beginning stages of the season but it's nice to see us beat a good team."
 
Bolston dominated all aspects of the game for the Vikings, finishing with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for the first triple-double of her career. No Portland State player had recorded a triple-double since Kate Lanz had 22 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against Eastern Washington on Dec. 29, 2013. Only three other Big Sky players had recorded a triple-double since then, the last coming from Idaho's Mikayla Ferenz, who had 15 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists against North Dakota on Jan. 27, 2018.
 
"She can do that every night. She's one of those special players," Kennedy said of Bolston's performance Friday. "She rises to the occasion, especially in big games. She knew she had to take over, especially in the second half. She had some mismatches. They put a post on her and she drove. They put a guard on her and she'd post up. It was special to see."
 
Bolston had only two points and one rebound at the end of the first quarter, though, as it took her a bit to get going.
 
Senior forward Pia Jurhar provided the early heroics for the Vikings, as she hit her first three shots from the field, the last of which gave the Vikings a 13-7 lead with 4:55 left in the quarter. Jurhar and junior forward Jordan Stotler also played solid defense on UC Davis' star post player, Morgan Bertsch, who didn't record her first field goal in the game until there was 6:31 left in the second quarter.
 
"I thought Pia played great, especially in the first three minutes," Kennedy said of Jurhar. "We were kind of nervous with it being a big game and they had a good crowd here. Pia hits her first three shots and just settled us down a little bit."
 
Even without Bertsch at the forefront, the Aggies came back with eight straight points – their longest run of the game – to go up 15-13 right at the end of the first quarter. The Vikings leveled it back at 15-15 with a jumper from Stotler with 16 seconds remaining, and it remained tight at the start of the second quarter.
 
It was still close at 20-19 with 5:58 left, when the Vikings closed the second quarter on a 13-1 run to go into halftime leading 33-20.
 
Sophomore guard Kylie Jimenez started the Vikings' run into halftime with a three-pointer from the right wing after good ball movement from Bolston and senior guard Sidney Rielly. Bolston posted up her defender for a bank shot on the right baseline to give the Vikings a 27-19 a little later, and Rielly followed with a three-pointer from the right wing to give the Vikings their first double-digit lead at 30-20. Freshman guard Ana Tainta then stole the ball on the defensive end and led a 3-on-1 fast break before dishing to a cutting Jimenez for an easy layup that made it 32-20 with 1:23 remaining in the half.
 
Jimenez hit a three-pointer on the Vikings' first possession of the second half, putting the Vikings up 16 at 36-20. The Aggies cut the Vikings' lead in half to bring them within eight at 39-31, but the Aggies hit just one of their last 13 shots in the third quarter as the Vikings built their lead back up to 18 at 52-34.
 
Bolston upped the Vikings' lead to 20 with a layup on the team's first possession of the fourth quarter, and the Vikings stayed ahead by 15 points or more the rest of the way. The only remaining drama in the game was Bolston's pursuit of the triple-double, which she got with an offensive rebound with 5:46 left in the game.
 
Besides Bolston, Jimenez finished two points off her career high with 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting while going 3-of-8 from beyond the arc. Jimenez also added six assists for the Vikings to go with two steals and a rebound.
 
Jurhar finished with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting after her hot start, while Rielly matched her with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field. Stotler, meanwhile, had two points points and 11 rebounds to go with two assists, one steal and a block.
 
The Vikings held the Aggies to just 17-of-68 from the field for a .250 field goal percentage in the game, the second straight Division I opponent that the Vikings have held to under 30 percent from the floor. The Vikings held San Jose State to .266 shooting last Sunday, which was the first time the Vikings had held a Division I opponent to that low of a field goal percentage since Loyola Marymount shot .242 against the Vikings on Dec. 11, 2010. Ironically, the Spartans now have the best field goal percentage of any team against the Vikings this season, as the Vikings also held Warner Pacific to .238 from the floor in their first game of the season.
 
With the win over the Aggies, the Vikings are 3-0 to start the year for the first time since the 2012-13 season. The Vikings can go for their first 4-0 start since 2007-08 when they host Seattle – another 2017-18 postseason team – next Saturday, Nov. 24. The Vikings and Redhawks will tipoff at 2 p.m. at the Viking Pavilion.
 
Match Notes: The Vikings improved their all-time record against UC Davis to 10-5 with their win Friday…The Vikings hadn't beaten the Aggies since 2011, when they won a neutral-site game 68-57 on Nov. 19, 2011…The Vikings came into Friday's game allowing only 50.0 points per game – the best average in the Big Sky – and hit the mark exactly in their 65-50 win over the Aggies…The Aggies went just 4-of-33 from beyond the arc in the game, hitting 12.1 percent of their three-pointers.