PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's basketball team knows how to make an entrance.
 
A year after the Vikings opened their 2018-19 season with a 102-49 win over Warner Pacific, the Vikings beat Multnomah 104-48 Tuesday night in their 2019-20 opener at Viking Pavilion. The Vikings hadn't hit the century mark in a game since Dec. 2, 1995 before last season, but have now done it in back-to-back season openers.
 
"Our returners are in new roles this season, and it was good for our young players to get a lot of time," head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "That was one of the reasons why we wanted to play Multnomah. They had some size and some shooters. We felt like we could run against them, too, and get some easy fast breaks, which we did early on."
 
The offensive explosion came as the Vikings went 13-of-27 from beyond the arc, tying a program record for three-pointers made in a game that was set close to 12 years ago on Dec. 29, 2007 against Utah Valley. Four different players finished with two or more three-pointers, while freshmen Jada Lewis (4), Belle Frazier (3) and Cassidy Gardner (1) accounted for eight of the Vikings' 13 three-pointers.
 
"We have the ability to shoot it this year," Kennedy said. "A lot of it was just being shot-ready. Last week we settled on the three. We weren't using our inside presence. Even though we missed on the inside tonight, the defense had to sag in a little bit on Jordan [Stotler], Tatiana [Streun], Syd [Schultz] and Marina [Canzobre], and that opened it up on the outside. We were getting good reversals and we were getting the inside-out looks, and so we were shot-ready to knock those down."
 
Sophomore guard Desirae Hansen chipped in three three-pointers on 3-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc while junior guard Kylie Jimenez went 2-of-4.
 
Hansen and Jimenez also combined for 13 of the Vikings' 28 assists in the game, as the Vikings assisted on over 75 percent of their 37 field goals.
 
"We've done that the last couple of years," Kennedy said of the team's passing. "We really looked at assists and tried to get easy baskets with our passing. We were able to do that tonight. If we continue to cut and continue to be open and look for that best shot, then that will happen."
 
Hansen and Jimenez each helped the other raise their assist total as their connection led to several big buckets in the second quarter. Hansen sent a two-handed overhead pass all the way across the court to Jimenez for a three from the right baseline that made it 43-22 with just over three and a half minutes to go before halftime. Jimenez returned the favor on the Vikings' next possession, feeding Hansen off a screen for a three-pointer from the left wing.
 
Jimenez finished the first half with seven assists, well on her way to bettering her career high of nine before Viking coaches shut her down in the second half.
 
Hansen finished with six assists to go with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Hansen also chipped in five rebounds and three steals, and had a plus-minus of 44 when she was on the court.
 
Besides those two, redshirt junior guard Tatiana Streun backed up her play in the Vikings' exhibition win over Warner Pacific last Wednesday with another strong game against Multnomah. Streun finished with 20 points and 16 rebounds against Warner Pacific, both of which would have been career highs if the game had counted. Tuesday's game did count, and Streun got the career highs she would have gotten last week while recoding a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Streun's 19 points came on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor, while six of her 13 rebounds came on the offensive end.
 
Tuesday night's win also featured the Portland State debuts of five of the team's six freshmen, and the first-year players did not disappoint. The first shot Frazier and Lewis took as Vikings was a three-pointer and both of them made it. Frazier scored 12 of her 15 points in the first half, and also matched Jimenez with a game-high four steals.
 
Lewis saw most of her action in the second half, but finished with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc to go with seven rebounds. Lewis hit her first four shots from three-point range, and her fifth was half way down before bouncing out.
 
Gardner hit her lone three-point attempt in the game, finishing with seven points on 3-of-5 shooting while chipping in four assists.
 
Syd Schultz scored all 10 of her points in the fourth quarter, including back-to-back three-point plays as she took over the paint late in the game.
 
The Vikings took any drama out of the game early, as they scored the first 10 points and led 29-12 after the first quarter. The Vikings also closed the second quarter on a 9-0 run that gave them their first 30-point lead at 55-24. Another 26-6 run made it a 47-point game by the end of the third quarter, allowing the Vikings to play every dressed player for at least 10 minutes in the game.
 
The Vikings will have a tougher time with their next opponent, as they open the Preseason WNIT at Boise State Friday. The Broncos swept the Mountain West Conference regular-season and tournament titles last season, and gave fourth-seeded Oregon State a run for its money in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
 
The Vikings and Broncos tip off at 7 p.m. (MT) at Boise State's Extramile Arena.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improve to 2-0 all time against Multnomah with Tuesday's win…The Vikings played their only previous game against Multnomah at Lewis & Clark's Pamplin Sports Center on Nov. 25, 2017 while Viking Pavilion was under construction… Six players finished in double figures for the Vikings, the first time that has happened since the Vikings' Big Sky semifinal loss to Idaho on March 9, 2018...The Vikings received their Big Sky championships rings during the halftime of the men's game that followed.