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PORTLAND, Ore. — Having won six of its first seven games of the season by double digits, the Portland State women's basketball team faced something against UNLV Saturday that the team had not seen yet this year: a fourth-quarter deficit.
 
UNLV hit a three-pointer with 8:48 to go in the fourth quarter, giving them a four-point lead at 43-39. The four-point lead tied the Lady Rebels' largest lead of the game, and came after UNLV led much of the third quarter.
 
The Vikings calmly stared down the deficit, however, scoring the next 10 points straight to give them back a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way. The Vikings ended up out-scoring the Lady Rebels 21-11 in the fourth quarter en route to a 58-49 win.
 
"This team has worked so hard," head coach Lynn Kennedy said of the Vikings' resiliency in the fourth quarter. "I think our offseason is paying off right now. Not in November, but in December. It's paying off now because we worked on last-minute situations. We're not rattled anymore. I think as a young team the last couple of years, we went through that. Now we just embrace it. We're ready for it. It's exciting to see this team grow, especially in the last month and a half."
 
The Vikings improved to 8-0 with the win, leaving them as one of only a handful of remaining undefeated teams in the NCAA this season. The Vikings have never been 8-0 to start a season since turning Division I, and haven't been 8-0 across any division since the Vikings started the season 11-0 in 1994-95.
 
Saturday's win was a markedly different one than the Vikings' previous victories, however. It was more in line with the Vikings' 60-55 road win over Grand Canyon Tuesday, which marked the first time Vikings hadn't won a game by double digits this season. The Vikings had rarely led by less than 10 points in the fourth quarter of any game before their game against GCU, and had been beating teams by more than 27 points a game before then.
 
Additionally, UNLV (1-8) out-rebounded the Vikings by the widest margin of any opponent this season, 43-33, including 17 offensive rebounds, a season high for a Viking opponent. UNLV out-scored the Vikings 14-6 in second-chance points as a result, and also held the Vikings to a season-low 14 assists in the game.
 
"Give UNLV a lot of credit. They're a good team and they took away some things from us offensively," Kennedy said of his team's struggles against the Lady Rebels. "They're the longest team we'll see all year. They matched up well with us in that regard, so we struggled a bit finding the right opportunities.
 
"I thought we had a lot of good looks. We kept encouraging them, 'hey, it's going to happen.' And then we had that stretch in the fourth quarter where we were getting stops and either getting to the free throw line, getting in the lane or getting an outside shot. I think that's what did it."
 
Senior guard Sidney Rielly started the Vikings' decisive 10-0 run midway through the fourth quarter with a pair of free throws with 7:50 remaining. Fellow senior guard Ashley Bolston then followed with a one-handed jumper amid contact, after sophomore point guard Kylie Jimenez stole the ball on the other end for what was her fourth steal of the game to that point.
 
Senior forward Courtney West put the Vikings back on top at 45-43 with a quick turnaround jumper off a feed from Rielly, before Bolston and Rielly followed with four straight free throws to put the Vikings up 49-43 with 4:28 remaining.
 
UNLV came back with layups in the paint from Rodjanae Wade and Letecia Smith to make it a two-point game at 49-47. Rielly answered with an aggressive move to the basket the next time down the court, dribbling with her left hand all the way from the right wing to finish amid contact in the paint.
 
UNLV responded with a rebound basket to get back within two at 51-49 with 2:45 remaining, but the Vikings held the Lady Rebels scoreless the rest of the way. Bolston added her own rebound basket on a heads-up play on the Vikings' next possession, while Jimenez recorded two steals on UNLV's next three possessions.
 
Bolston came up with perhaps the biggest steal of the game when she stole a careless in-bounds pass that went right to her following a free throw from Jimenez with 22 seconds remaining. UNLV subsequently fouled Bolston, who hit one of two from the line to make it a six-point game at 55-49 at that point. Freshman guard Ana Tainta then iced the game with a pair of free throws following a big defensive rebound with 14 seconds remaining.
 
"It was a good game. I think if you're a fan of basketball, two good teams going at it in a close game is what you want to see," Kennedy said afterwards. "It went back and forth in the second half probably twenty times. We didn't play very well offensively, but again, we found a way to win and that's the resilience of this team. You've seen it the last two games. It's exciting. Playing close games the last two games and finding a way to win even though we're not on offensively is exciting for us as coaches."
 
The Vikings ran out to an early 10-point lead against UNLV Saturday, as the Vikings scored 12 straight points to go up 14-4 with 34 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Vikings still led by 10 at 19-9 with 5:47 to go in the second quarter when UNLV scored 10 straight points of its own to level the game once again. Neither team led by more than four points after that until the Vikings' 10-0 run in the fourth quarter.
 
Bolston led the Vikings with a game-high 17 points against UNLV while adding six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Rielly chipped in 13 points and three steals, while freshman Desirae Hansen added nine points, nine rebounds and two assists. Jimenez also finished with eight points, five assists and six steals (tying a career high).
 
The Vikings close out their non-conference schedule Tuesday, when they host UC Irvine at 7 p.m. at the Viking Pavilion. UC Irvine, which beat UNLV 57-55 on Nov. 13 earlier this season, will play at the University of Portland Sunday at 2 p.m.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings leveled the all-time series between them and UNLV, 1-1…UNLV won the first game in the series 88-80 in overtime last season, after the Vikings gave up a 21-point lead midway through the fourth quarter…Rielly and Bolston were each honored before the game for having scored more than 1,000 points in their Viking careers…The Vikings have only had one other pair of active 1,000-point scorers play together in the Big Sky era of the Vikings' program before Rielly and Bolston, and that was hall-of-famers Kelsey Kahle and Claire Faucher…Rielly moved up to 14th all time in scoring after Saturday's game, and now has 1,152 points in her career.