PORTLAND – With five players scoring in double figures, the Portland State women's basketball team erased a 15-point halftime deficit to defeat cross-town rival Portland 77-71 at the Chiles Center on Sunday afternoon.
 
The win marked the fifth straight for the Vikings, who overcame its largest hafltime deficit since Jan. 8, 2010, to improve to 6-3 overall on the year. The win was also the third straight over the Pilots which is only the second time in the program's Big Sky era (1996-Pres.) the Vikings have tallied three in a row.
 
Leading the Vikings was Tatiana Streun, who continued her dominating performance in the post, scoring a team-high 17 points while collecting 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season.
 
"For a young team it says a lot to comeback and lock in defensively," said Head Coach Lynn Kennedy. "We took away their shots and we started playing basketball on the offensive side of the ball which got us going."
 
Jordan Stotler opened for the Vikings with the first basket of the game, before the Pilots answered with a 7-0 run to go up 7-2 early in the first quarter.
 
After Kylie Jimenez stopped UP's run with a fast-break layup, Desirae Hansen tallied five straight points to give the Vikings an 11-9 lead midway through the quarter. Tied 16-16, Streun converted an and-one to go up 19-16 with 2:08 to go in the first.
 
The Vikings shot 51 percent on the night while holding the Pilots to 37 percent shooting in the game.
 
Portland closed out the first period with five straight points to regain the lead at 21-19 before extending its scoring streak into the second quarter, scoring 11 straight to go up 27-19. With a 27-21 lead, the Pilots tallied eight straight points to extend their lead to 14 points with just over five minutes to play in the half.
 
Portland's high-pressure defense continued to give the Vikings issues as the Pilots capitalized with 16 first-half points off of turnovers, taking a 48-33 lead into the break, their largest lead of the night.
 
The Vikings came out firing in the second half, scoring the first seven points to cut the lead down to single digits at 48-40, capped off by a three from Jimenez. Portland State also locked down defensively, holding the Pilots to a field goal percentage of only 26 percent in the second half.
 
Portland fought back to make it a 10-point game with 5:21 to play in the third before settling with a seven-point advantage heading into the final quarter of play.
 
Jimenez finished the night with 12 points along with five assists while Belle Frazier and Stotler each added 11 points for the Vikings.
 
In the fourth, Hansen scored or assisted on the Vikings first eight points of the quarter as they regained the lead at 61-60 with 7:35 to play. She finished with a career-high 10 assists to go along with 16 points and five rebounds.
 
"[Hansen] is an unbelievably talented basketball player and when she plays like that, she is hard to stop," said Kennedy. "She took over for us offensively, read the defense, made the passes, and was able to knock down the shots."
 
The Pilots tied the game at 65-65 before a layup from Streun gave the Vikings the lead for the remainder of the game.
 
Down the stretch, Portland State relied on one of their strong points as they hit 8-of-10 from the line to seal the victory. Jimenez tallied four free throws while Stotler made three in the final 1:19 of the game.
 
The Vikings will return to Viking Pavilion on Saturday as they welcome in Tennessee on Dec. 21 for one of the most anticipated games of the season. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.