PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's basketball team scored the first 14 points of the second half Wednesday night, as the Vikings put away Warner Pacific, 79-51, in an exhibition game at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings led by only eight points at 39-31 going into halftime, but quickly stretched their lead to 53-31 with the 14-0 run. The Vikings extended the run to go up by 30 points a few minutes later, and then maintained at least a 20-point lead the rest of the way.
 
"That run in the third, we were disciplined in our offense, we were making hard cuts, we were finding the right people who were open. You could see the difference there," head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards.
 
"We've got to continue to play together. When we start playing individual basketball we're not very good at this point as a young team. We've got to continue to play together, and when we do that, I think we're pretty good."
 
Tatiana Streun scored eight of her game-high 20 points in the third quarter as the Vikings started pounding the Knights inside. Streun posted game highs for both points (20) and rebounds (16) Wednesday night, with eight of her 16 rebounds coming on the offensive end. Additionally, Streun's 20 points came on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, while she also added four assists and three steals. If the game had counted, Streun would have finished with new career highs for points (20), rebounds (16) and field goals made (10).
 
It was an encouraging look for Streun, who sat out the Vikings' entire 2018-19 season after suffering an ACL tear in May of 2018.
 
"She's a double-double waiting to happen," Kennedy said of Streun. "But she's got to play hard. She's got to get to the glass, and then she's got to be able to finish. Not do a lot of hesitation and counter-moves but just go right to the basket and finish. She started doing that in the second and third quarter and that's when she exploded in the game and had a great game."
 
Sophomore guard Desirae Hansen also filled the stat sheet Wednesday night while posting a near triple-double with 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Six of Hansen's eight assists came in the second half, when the Vikings assisted on 14 of their 17 field goals as a team.
 
Kylie Jimenez and Belle Frazier also each went into double figures with 15 and 10 points, respectively, while senior forward Jordan Stotler was a point away from a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds to go with four blocks.
 
The Vikings will hope to shoot the ball better when counting games begin next week, as the Vikings finished just 33-of-79 (.418) from the field despite the win. The Vikings went 12-of-22 (.545) while making their run in the third quarter, but shot a combined 21-of-57 (.368) in the other three quarters.
 
The Vikings would have buried the Knights even earlier in the game if they had been connecting from beyond the arc in the first half of the game. The Vikings went 4-of-16 from three-point range in the first half before they started pounding it inside in the second.
 
Fortunately, the Vikings' defense was solid throughout the game as the Knights didn't shoot better than 33.3 percent in any quarter and finished the game 17-of-68 (.250) from the field.
 
Three-point shooting helped keep the Knights in it early, as they came back to tie the Vikings twice after making a three-pointer in the first quarter. The Vikings opened the second quarter with a 15-0 run that stretched their lead to 34-17 points, but the Knights got back within eight by halftime with a 14-5 run to close out the half.
 
The Vikings kept the Knights from finding a counter-punch in the second half, as the third-quarter run put the game away. Streun scored her 20th point of the game on a fast-break layup with 5:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, giving the Vikings their largest lead of the game at 76-44.
 
Freshmen Marina Canzobre and Cassidy Gardner chipped in five and four points, respectively, off the bench for the Vikings. Gardner also had three assists and two steals against the Knights.
 
The Vikings officially open their season Tuesday, Nov. 5, when they host Multnomah University at 5 p.m. at Viking Pavilion.