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PORTLAND, Ore. — ANNOUNCEMENT: the Portland State women's basketball team will no longer play a first, second or fourth quarter. The Vikings will instead play four third quarters, and consequently beat all of their opponents by 40 points or more.
 
The Vikings (16-4, 8-3 Big Sky) used another patented third-quarter run to separate themselves from a scrappy Sacramento State team Thursday, and then followed with a similar fourth quarter to run away with a 74-58 win at the Viking Pavilion. The Hornets (8-11, 4-7 Big Sky) went into halftime tied with the Vikings, 30-30, and scored the first bucket of the second half, but the Vikings answered with nine straight points and 17 of the next 20 to take full control of the game.
 
"Our third quarter has kind of been our explosion quarter of late," PSU head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "We saw that in the third and fourth quarter tonight. It really came down to defensive effort, though, especially at the beginning of the third. Once we got that going our shots started to fall."
 
It was the third straight game that the Vikings have used a third-quarter run to take control. The Vikings were only up one against Weber State, 23-22, at halftime last Thursday, but then outscored the Wildcats 24-9 in the third quarter while going 8-of-12 from the field en route to a 65-38 win. The Vikings were then down five points at halftime against Idaho State last Saturday, but outscored the Bengals 22-12 in the third quarter before eventually falling, 58-57.
 
The Vikings outscored the Hornets 20-12 in the third quarter Thursday, with senior guard Sidney Rielly getting hot from three-point range as the Vikings started to take control.
 
Rielly only had two points at halftime and missed her first four shots from three-point range, but then hit her next three straight from deep as she poured in nine points in the third quarter and tacked on eight more in the fourth for 17 total second-half points. Rielly performed a similar halftime magic trick in the Vikings' game against Weber State, when she had three points at halftime before scoring 10 points in the third quarter.
 
"I thought all of Sid's shots in the first half were going in, too. They just looked nice and smooth, and that's the type of shooter that she is. Once she gets going, she's fun to watch," Kennedy said of Rielly.
 
"She kind of kickstarted everybody else. It was definitely a team effort tonight. Our bench brought good intensity and effort tonight, and then our starters stepped up and did what they usually do."
 
Rielly's third three-pointer ended the Vikings' 17-3 run towards the start of the third quarter, giving the Vikings a double-digit lead for the first time in the game at 47-35 with 3:36 remaining in the period.
 
The Hornets got back within eight points a couple of times towards the end of the third quarter and the start of the fourth quarter, but Rielly and junior forward Jordan Stotler scored back-to-back baskets to push the Vikings' lead back to 12 at 56-44 with 7:50 remaining in the fourth. Sophomore point guard Kylie Jimenez followed with her third three-pointer of the game a little later that pushed the Vikings' lead up to 15 at 63-48 with 4:47 remaining.
 
The Hornets got within 10 points again at 65-55, but the Vikings responded with nine straight points to erase any doubt regarding the outcome. The play that put the nail in the coffin came off a steal by Jimenez, who then fed a streaking Rielly for an easy layup that made it 69-55 with 2:26 left in the game.
 
Jimenez had nine points for the Vikings after halftime, finishing with 15 on 6-of-11 shooting to go with five assists, three rebounds and a steal.
 
Rielly tied the Hornets' Kennedy Nicholas with a game-high 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting, and added six rebounds. Rielly has now scored in double figures in nine straight games, and has gone over 15 points seven times in that stretch. Rielly's three made three-pointers Thursday also moved her up to sixth all time at Portland State with 128 makes in her career.
 
Senior guard Ashley Bolston had her best passing game since recording her second triple-double of the season against the University of Portland back on Dec. 1. Bolston finished with nine assists against the Hornets while adding eight points on 3-of-6 shooting to go with three rebounds and three steals. Bolston's eight points moved her up to 14th all time in career scoring at Portland State, passing Renae Aschoff (1989-1993) with 1,178 points.
 
The Vikings, as a team, had 24 assists on 28 field goals against the Hornets Thursday. That marked the Vikings' second-best assist percentage in a game this season, behind only the Vikings' win over UC Davis on Nov. 16, when the Vikings had 21 assists on 22 field goals.
 
Stotler had a tough shooting night, going 1-of-12 from the floor, but made her presence known in every other facet of the game. Stotler finished with a career-high 15 rebounds (five offensive), four assists, three steals and a block, and still added eight points for the Vikings.
 
Stotler's 15 rebounds came as part of 46 for the Vikings, who out-rebounded the Hornets – the Big Sky's top rebounding team – by 14 Thursday for their largest positive rebounding margin in a game this season. The Hornets also came into the game as the Big Sky leaders in offensive rebounds, but the Vikings beat the Hornets 15-9 on the offensive glass.
 
Six different Vikings finished with eight points or more in the game, including a season-high 10 points for sophomore forward Savannah Dhaliwal. Dhaliwal was the first-half MVP for the Vikings, as she scored all 10 of her points in only six minutes of game time in the second quarter. Dhaliwal scored eight straight points by herself at one point in the second quarter, turning a 20-17 deficit for the Vikings into a 25-20 lead.
 
Dhaliwal's production in the second quarter came at a critical time for the Vikings, who struggled out of the gate against the Hornets. The Vikings shot 3-of-17 from the floor in the first quarter, and started the second quarter 1-of-4 before Dhaliwal hit her first shot of the game.
 
"Sav's been working hard all year. We see that every day in practice. Tonight, she got going and with them in that zone, we were able to use her effectively in that high post," Kennedy said of the spark Dhaliwal gave the Vikings. "Her production in the second quarter forced them to collapse in the middle at the start of the third quarter, and we were able to take advantage by knocking down some shots from the outside."
 
Dhaliwal scored her 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting, while adding five rebounds (two offensive), three assists and a steal against the Hornets.
 
The Vikings face another big game Saturday, when they'll host Northern Colorado, which sits tied with Idaho for the Big Sky lead at 9-2 in conference play. This will be the third straight Saturday that the Vikings play one of the other top four teams in the Big Sky standings. The Vikings lost their last two Saturday games by a combined three points, losing 80-78 to Idaho on Jan. 26, and then 58-57 to Idaho State on Feb. 2.
 
The Vikings and Bears tip off at 2 p.m. (PT) Saturday at the Viking Pavilion.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 29-18 all time against the Hornets with Thursday's win, and improved to 27-18 in the Big Sky series…Thursday's game was the first time in the last five games against Sacramento State that the Vikings won by double digits…Senior forward Courtney West went 4-of-4 from the field Thursday for her best shooting night since she went 7-for-7 from the field against Montana on Jan. 5.