BOX SCORE - PDF | HTML

PORTLAND, Ore. — Elite players step up in rivalry games. That was the case yet again Saturday afternoon, as seniors Ashley Bolston and Sidney Rielly led the Portland State women's basketball team to a 92-79 win over cross-town rival University of Portland in the first intra-Portland clash in the new Viking Pavilion.
 
Bolston was a steal away from a quadruple-double as she finished with 19 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds and nine steals for the Vikings, who improved to 5-0 for the first time since the 2007-08 season with the win. Bolston recorded her second triple-double of the season against the Pilots (5-2), tying her with Oregon's triple-double queen Sabrina Ionescu for the national lead. 
 
No Big Sky player has recorded two triple-doubles in a single season since Portland State's own Claire Faucher had two triple-doubles five days apart on March 8, 2008 and March 13, 2008. Bolston and Faucher are the only players in Big Sky history with multiple triple-doubles in their careers, after Faucher had three in her career while Bolston now has two. Bolston recorded her first-career triple-double just over two weeks ago, when she had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in the Vikings' 65-50 win over UC Davis on Nov. 16.
 
Faucher was also the last Viking player to come as close as Bolston to a quadruple-double when she had 20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 steals and eight assists against Montana State on March 5, 2009. 
 
For her part, Rielly led all players with 32 points in the game, tying her career high and giving her the third 30-point game of her career. Rielly had 25 points in the first half alone, believed to be the most by a Viking in a half since Kelsey Kahle – the Vikings' all-time points leader – had 26 points in the second half against Sacramento State on Jan. 25, 2007.
 
"It's amazing. When Ashley and Sidney play at a high level, you can see the difference in our team," Portland State head coach Lynn Kennedy said. "I mean, to have four players in double figures tonight, Syd have the game that she had and AB to have the game that she had – plus we have a lot to work on still. That's what's exciting as a coach. We love how they're playing but we've got a longways to go still till we get to that 40-minute game. So I'm excited. We can go back, look at that second quarter and get better."
 
It took the virtuoso performances from Bolston and Rielly to bury a resilient Pilots team that came back from an early 16-point deficit to take their first lead of the game at 34-33 with 3:13 left in the second quarter. The Pilots used a 19-2 run to get back in the game, hitting four three-pointers during the run after starting the game 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.
 
"Portland is a good team," Kennedy said. "They're playing well and they came in with a lot of confidence. They shot the ball really well in the second quarter. We got a little bit out of sorts in that second quarter defensively. They took advantage, and give them credit. They're going to win some games this year. I liked how we settled in, though, even as they took a lead."

The Vikings found their legs again to take a four-point lead at 45-41 into halftime, and then Bolston took over coming out of halftime. Bolston went into the break with six points, seven assists, three rebounds and two steals, but then recorded 13 points, five assists, seven rebounds and seven steals in the second half.
 
With 5:24 left in the third quarter, Bolston hit junior forward Jordan Stotler for a baseline jumper following one of her six offensive rebounds in the game, giving the Vikings a double-digit lead once again at 56-45.
 
Sophomore point guard Kylie Jimenez scored the next seven points for the Vikings, starting with a layup off a 3-on-1 fast break with 3:56 left in the third. Jimenez then followed a UP three-pointer that cut the Vikings' lead to four with a three of her own, and then hit a driving layup to stretch the Vikings' lead back to nine at 63-54.
 
Another three-pointer from Jimenez gave the Vikings an 11-point lead at 72-61 with 7:08 left in the fourth quarter, while Rielly found her stroke again to score the next five for the Vikings and stretch the team's lead back to 14 at 77-63. Rielly hit a three pointer from the left baseline to put the Vikings up 12 with 6:06 to go, and then added a fast-break layup following a block from Stotler on the Vikings' next possession.
 
The Pilots got back within eight at 79-71 with 3:42 left to go, but the Vikings stretched the lead to 14 once again off back-to-back layups from Rielly and Bolston that made it 90-76 with 1:39 to go.
 
Rielly scored 13 of the Vikings' first 16 points in the game, and finished with 15 points in the first quarter – beating her season high coming into the game in the first period alone.
 
"You can tell when players are feeling it and she was feeling it early and we just let her go," Kennedy said of Rielly. "You just sit back and watch because it was pretty amazing. But when players like Sidney or Ashley or Courtney [West] or Kylie get going, you just sit back and just let them play and it's fun to watch."
 
Rielly finished the game 12-of-21 from the field and 6-of-12 from beyond the arc, setting a new career high for Rielly for made three pointers in a game. Rielly's six three-pointers were the most by a Viking since Emily Easom hit seven three-pointers against North Dakota on Jan. 10, 2015.
 
Besides Bolston and Rielly, Jimenez finished with 12 points to go with six assists and four steals. Senior forward Courtney West also hit double figures while making her return from an ankle injury, as she had 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting to go with seven rebounds. Stotler added nine points and five rebounds to go with two blocks and a steal.
 
Saturday's 13-point win over the Pilots marked the fifth straight double-digit win for the Vikings to open the season, the first time in program history the Vikings have ever opened a season with five double-digit victories
 
The Pilots became the first team to shoot better than 30 percent against the Vikings, but the Vikings still outshot the Pilots .446-to-.397 in the game. The Vikings also out-rebounded the Pilots 47-to-36, including a 15-to-9 advantage in offensive rebounds.
 
The Vikings assisted on 27 of their 33 made field goals against the Pilots, giving them 114 assists on 143 field goals this season. That gives the Vikings an assist percentage of 79.7 percent this season, the best percentage since the 1991-92 season, when the Vikings set the single-season program record with 899 assists on 1,119 field goals for an 80.3 assist percentage.
 
The Vikings hit the road for the first time in their next game, as they play at UTEP next Sunday, Dec. 9. The Vikings and Miners tip off at 2 p.m. (MT) in El Paso, Texas.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improve to 25-28 all time against UP with Saturday's win…The Vikings also beat UP 77-71 last season, giving the Vikings two straight wins in the series for the first time since the Vikings won both parts of a home-and-home series during the 2012-13 season…Having matched their 5-0 start to the 2007-08 season, the Vikings will now go for their first 6-0 start to a year since 1995-96 when they play at UTEP…Bolston is also only three points from becoming the 18th member of the 1,000-point club at Portland State.