PORTLAND, Ore. — An 11-0 Nevada run late in the fourth quarter made it a two-point game with less than a minute left, but the Portland State women's basketball team held on to hand the Wolf Pack its first loss of the season, 80-75, at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings (2-3) controlled much of the game Saturday, after first taking control with a 15-2 run near the start of the second quarter. That gave the Vikings their first double-digit lead, while another 7-0 run near the start of the third quarter made it a 14-point game at 50-36. The Vikings maintained at least a nine-point lead from there until the Wolf Pack (3-1) made their run late.
 
"We knew they were going to make a run," head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "They decided to do it in the fourth, but we've got to learn, as a young team, how to handle those situations. I'm so proud that we locked in that last minute. That's all we needed to do. We were playing like we were behind and we needed to play like we were ahead.
 
"To beat a good team like this, it says a lot about where we are in the season and what we can do going into next weekend's road games."

Nevada came into the game having posted its first 3-0 start since the 2010-11 season, with one of those wins coming over another Big Sky school in Sacramento State.
 
Sophomore guard Desirae Hansen played another solid all-around game to lead the Vikings with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field. Hansen set a new career high with five steals in the game, and also chipped in five rebounds and five assists. Two of Hansen's five steals came on back-to-back plays at the end of the first quarter, the second of which led to a breakaway layup for junior Kylie Jimenez.
 
Jimenez, who was playing against her sister Alyssa Jimenez Saturday, joined Hansen in double figures with 11 points, nine of which came after halftime. Additionally, Jimenez dished out seven assists and grabbed four steals Saturday, most of which came in the Vikings' big runs in the second and third quarters.
 
Seven of Jimenez's 11 points also came from the free throw line where she was 7-of-8 against the Wolf Pack. As a team, the Vikings made 22-of-24 shots from the line, giving them the advantage over the Wolf Pack, who were 14-of-17.
 
Redshirt junior forward Tatiana Streun hit 5-of-6 shots from the line as she went into double figures for the fourth time out of five games this season. Streun finished with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, and also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
 
Freshman Belle Frazier gave the Vikings a fourth player in double figures with 13 points while going a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc. Two other Vikings finished with eight points each in senior forward Jordan Stotler and junior guard Labrea Denson.
 
Freshmen forwards Syd Schultz and Marina Canzobre gave the Vikings good minutes off the bench while filling in for Stotler, who got into foul trouble. Schultz finished with six points to go with four rebounds, while Canzobre had two points, four rebounds and three assists.
 
"If you had told me that Jordan would only play 10 minutes and we'd win, I would have laughed," Kennedy said. "We need her on the floor. She played only 10 minutes and yet we beat a solid team tonight. Everybody stepped up. Bree had a great game. Marina. Syd came in and dominated the glass and got some good post-up looks. It's a team effort. We've got to play like that all year."
 
Most of Stotler's minutes came in the second quarter, when she scored six of her eight points. Stotler hit a shot in the paint and followed with two free throws on the Vikings' next possession to kickstart the Vikings' big run in the second quarter. Stotler also ended the run with a nice pass inside to Schultz, who converted a layup to make it 37-27 with 2:43 remaining before half.
 
It was no coincidence, that the Vikings' best defensive quarter was the one where Stotler played the most minutes, either. Stotler and the Vikings held the Wolf Pack to 4-of-17 shooting (.235) in the second quarter, when they had been 10-of-17 (.588) in the first quarter.
 
"I thought we locked in defensively [in the second quarter]," Kennedy said. "We only gave them one shot. They went through a stretch where they had two offensive rebounds for a three-pointer and a put back that gave them a 5-0 run. But other than that we locked them in that whole quarter and it carried into the third.
 
Jimenez found Frazier and Canzobre for back-to-back assists that stretched the Vikings' lead to 50-36 with 6:30 left in the third. The Wolf Pack got the lead back down to single digits a little later, but an extended 13-6 Viking run that bridged the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter pushed it to an 18-point game at 71-53 with 6:45 remaining. Denson scored six of her eight points in the extended run for the Vikings, including a buzzer beater at the end of the third quarter.
 
The Vikings went ice cold from there, however, as Denson's layup with 4:42 remaining was the Vikings' last field goal in the game. The Vikings shot just 4-of-13 from the field in the fourth quarter, but still finished 27-of-56 for the game as they shot over 50 percent in each of the first three quarters Saturday.
 
The Wolf Pack finished 29-of-62 from the floor, as they shot over 50 percent in every quarter but the second.
 
The Viking defense was most effective on the perimeter, where they forced the Wolf Pack into 18 turnovers off 14 steals for the Vikings. Hansen and Jimenez led the Vikings with five and four steals, respectively, but Frazier grabbed two while Streun, Canzobre and Denson each had one. The 14 steals mark a season high for the Vikings against a Division I opponent.
 
The Vikings hit the road for their next two games, as they play at UC Davis next Saturday, before facing UC Irvine in a rematch of their Preseason WNIT consolation game last weekend.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings leveled their all-time series with Nevada at 5-5 following Saturday's win…Jimenez now has 330 career assists after Saturday, leaving her 12 short of entering the all-time top 10 at Portland State…Jimenez also now has 159 career steals, leaving her 18 short of entering the all-time top 10 in that category as well…Saturday's game was presented by Les Schwab.