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PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's basketball team left no doubt this time around.
 
After losing close games on last-second plays to two of the other top teams in the Big Sky Conference the past two Saturdays, the Vikings made sure they wouldn't drop another close game to a conference leader, as they beat first-place Northern Colorado in every quarter en route to an 85-66 win on a snowy afternoon at the Viking Pavilion.
 
The Bears – last season's Big Sky regular-season and tournament champions – hadn't lost a Big Sky game by more than 19 points since losing 63-38 to Eastern Washington on Jan. 19, 2013. The Vikings (17-4, 9-3 Big Sky) hadn't beaten the Bears by any margin in seven straight games before Saturday, as their last win over the Bears came on March 1, 2014. It had been more than 10 years since the Vikings beat the Bears by more than 19 points, as the Vikings' last 20-point win over Northern Colorado came on Jan. 17, 2009.
 
The Vikings held last season's Big Sky MVP in the Bears' Savannah Smith to only five points Saturday, and shut her out entirely in the second half. Smith hadn't scored as few as five points in a Big Sky game since she scored three points against Montana State on Jan. 16, 2016, back when she was a redshirt freshman.
 
"This was probably our most complete game all year," PSU head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "We won every quarter. We locked in defensively. Our rebounding wasn't what we wanted it to be in the first quarter, but we talked about it and with four minutes left in the second quarter, they got their first offensive rebound of that period.
 
"That's when we extended our lead, and that was really important going into halftime. We haven't had a halftime lead like that [10 points] for a while so it felt good to say in the locker room, 'hey, our best basketball is yet to come. Let's get after it.'"
 
Kennedy could pick from a wide array of statistical highlights for his Vikings against the Bears (14-7, 9-3 Big Sky). The Vikings held the Bears to just .386 (27-of-70) from the field, and held the Bears to only four three-pointers on 20 attempts after the Bears made 13 three-pointers in their first game against the Vikings this season. The Bears also out-rebounded the Vikings 41-34 in that game – a 79-63 win for the Bears on Dec. 31 – but the Vikings out-rebounded the Bears, 40-37, Saturday.
 
The Vikings also played their best offensive game since their 78-60 win over Montana on Jan. 5. The Vikings shot 50 percent or better in every quarter except the third, and still shot 40 percent from the floor in that period. The Vikings finished shooting .508 (33-of-65) for the game, only the second time the Vikings have shot over 50 percent in a Big Sky game this season, and only the third game overall.
 
"Offensively, it was one of those nights where everything was going in," Kennedy said of the team's offensive performance. "We talked about it at halftime where I felt like there wasn't one time where we couldn't get what we wanted offensively. It's rare in these types of games, but we've been getting a lot of good shots. Tonight, they just happened to be going down."
 
The Vikings finally got a good start to a game, as they shot 9-of-18 and led the Bears 20-16 after the first quarter. The Vikings had been a combined 14-of-50 in the first quarter in their past three games, and relied on third-quarter runs for their recent wins over Weber State and Sacramento State.
 
The Vikings were even better in the second quarter, going 9-of-16 from the floor and maintaining at least a five-point lead throughout the period.
 
Sophomore Savannah Dhaliwal broke out in the second quarter for the second straight night. Dhaliwal set a new season high while scoring all 10 of her points against Sacramento State in the second quarter Thursday. Dhaliwal matched that performance with 10 more points in the second quarter against the Bears, however, and added six more points after halftime to set a new season high for the second straight night. Dhaliwal finished with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting to go with seven rebounds (three offensive), two assists, a block and a steal.
 
"She's working hard," Kennedy said of Dhaliwal. "She has that confidence now and we just play into it. That's what we've talked about with her, that she just needs to get in the game and be loose and go play. I'm so proud of her and how hard she's worked. It's paying off, and we're going to try and keep giving her minutes. If she keeps playing like she did this weekend, we'll keep giving her minutes."
 
The Bears showed no signs of folding when they came out in the third quarter, but the Vikings answered every mini-run for the Bears with one of their own. The Bears got within three possessions a few times in the third quarter, but the Vikings pushed their lead back up to 12 or 13 points every time.
 
It was still an 11-point game with 8:00 remaining in the fourth quarter when the Vikings scored nine straight points to put the game out of reach at 76-56 with 5:36 remaining. Senior guard Ashley Bolston hit two three-pointers for the Vikings during the run, as she went 3-of-4 from beyond the arc against the Bears for her best outside shooting game of the season
 
Bolston hasn't made three shots from deep since her first season as a Viking as a redshirt sophomore in 2016-17. Bolston made three three-pointers in two different games that season, the last coming against Idaho on Feb. 2, 2017.
 
Bolston finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting against the Bears, tying her best scoring output in a Big Sky game this season.
 
Fellow senior Sidney Rielly stretched her run of double-digit scoring games to 10 as she led the Vikings with 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field to go with four rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal. Rielly's 22 points were her most since she scored 26 against Weber State on Jan. 12, and moved her into a tie for fifth all time at Portland State with her 25th-career 20-point game. Rielly also passed Eryn Jones (2008-12) for seventh all time on the career scoring list at PSU during the game, and tied Kelli Valentine (2007-11) for ninth all time with her 66th-career 10-point game.
 
Senior forward Courtney West led the Vikings with 11 rebounds in the game – her most rebounds in a game since she had 11 against Montana State on Jan. 3. West also finished with four offensive rebounds against the Bears, and added five points, two assists, two blocks and two steals.
 
Junior forward Jordan Stotler joined West in double figures for rebounds with 10, while finishing one point from a double-double with nine points to go with three blocks and a steal.
 
Freshman guard Desirae Hansen gave the Vikings a fourth player in double figures for scoring Saturday, as she finished with 10 points while going 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and finishing with two assists. 
 
Sophomore point guard Kylie Jimenez was held to only four points in the game, but tied her career high with nine assists while committing only two turnovers and finishing with two steals of her own.
 
The Vikings hit the road for their next four games, beginning with a trip to Northern Arizona and Southern Utah next weekend. The Vikings will open the weekend against Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Ariz., Thursday at 6:30 p.m. (MT).
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 10-16 all time against the Bears with Saturday's win…The Vikings also improved to 9-15 in the Big Sky series between them and the Bears…The Vikings now rank tied with Northern Colorado for third in the Big Sky standings after Saturday, one game behind the new conference leader in Idaho at 10-2.