PORTLAND, Ore. — A 2-of-18 start from the field put the Portland State women's basketball team in a hole it could not climb out of as the Vikings fell 73-62 to league-leading Montana State Saturday at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings (8-7, 2-3 Big Sky) finished the first half just 6-of-30 (.200), and were still just 11-of-46 (.239) before finally getting hot in the fourth quarter. The Vikings never got their three-point shooting going against the Bobcats (9-6, 5-1 Big Sky), as they finished the game 3-of-22 for a season-low .136 percentage from beyond the arc.
 
It was a stark contrast from last weekend's games against Idaho and Eastern Washington when the Vikings tied a program record with 13 three-pointers against the Eagles, and shot 23-of-49 (.469) from beyond the arc across both games.
 
"We didn't come ready to play like we did against Idaho and Eastern and you have to do that in a game like this," PSU head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "We started playing like we can offensively in the second half. We had better flow. We were getting good screens. We were cutting. We were starting to read the defense, and we didn't do that early on. I thought we were using our high-low a little bit better and our attack to the basket was a bit better. If we make some shots, maybe it's a different game."
 
The Bobcats didn't take full advantage of the Vikings' poor shooting initially, as they started the game just 9-of-26 (.346) themselves. The Bobcats finally caught fire in the last five minutes of the first half, however, as they hit 11 of their next 16, including three three-pointers right before halftime to stretch their lead.
 
The Bobcats' run turned what had been a relatively manageable deficit for the Vikings at 24-13 midway through the second quarter into a 21-point advantage at 49-28 with three minutes to go before the fourth quarter.
 
The Vikings finally found their footing after that, and played a good enough fourth quarter to make the Bobcats sweat a bit at the end. An 8-2 PSU run cut the Bobcat lead to 13 with 5:31 remaining, while another 7-0 run made it a nine-point game at 64-55 with 1:10 remaining.
 
Senior Jordan Stotler led the Vikings' push in the final quarter, as she scored 11 of her career-high 21 points in the fourth. Redshirt junior Tatiana Streun also scored all 14 of her points in the second half, while four of her five rebounds came after the break.
 
Those two got to the line well for the Vikings after halftime, as they were a combined 14-of-16 from the charity stripe in the second half. Free-throw shooting was the one major advantage for the Vikings in the game, as they finished 19-of-24 (.792) from the line while the Bobcats went just 10-of-23 (.435).
 
Stotler would have had a bigger impact in the first half, but picked up her second foul with 9:38 left in the second quarter and sat the rest of the way. Stotler played a dominant first quarter in which she accounted for five of the Vikings' first six points, and added five rebounds and five blocks.
 
The early foul trouble meant Stotler remained at five blocks for the rest of the game, but she finished with her second double-double in the past three games with 11 rebounds to go with her 21 points. Stotler remains in form on the defensive end, as she now has 29 blocks in the Vikings' past six games for an average of 4.83 blocks per game in that stretch.
 
Stotler and Streun were the only two Vikings to finish in double figures, as the Bobcats held guards Kylie Jimenez and Desirae Hansen – two players who came into the game ranked in the top 15 of the Big Sky for scoring – to only seven points each. Hansen was scoreless through the first three quarters of the game, but scored seven points in the fourth to avoid being shut out for the first time this season.
 
Things won't get easier for the Vikings in their next game as they host Montana Monday night at Viking Pavilion. The Lady Griz came into Saturday tied with the Bobcats atop the Big Sky standings at 4-1 following a 92-54 win over Eastern Washington Thursday.
 
The Vikings and Lady Griz tip off at 7 p.m. (PT) Monday in a game sponsored by Les Schwab.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 29-36 all time against the Bobcats with Saturday's loss…The Bobcats snapped a six-game losing streak to the Vikings with their win…Stotler passed Karen Johnson (1980-84) for eighth on the all-time blocks list at Portland State, and now has 93 career blocks after Saturday…The Vikings' 18-point first half was their lowest scoring first half since they scored 17 in the first half against Idaho State on Feb. 11, 2016.