PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's basketball team got back up off the mat Monday after a tough loss Saturday, handing Montana only its second Big Sky loss of the season with a 78-65 victory over the Lady Griz at Viking Pavilion.
 
It was almost the complete reverse of Saturday's 73-62 loss to Montana State as the Vikings built a big halftime lead and then fought off a second-half surge from the Lady Griz. The Vikings dug themselves a hole Saturday, after they started 2-of-18 from the field and 6-of-30 (.200) in the first half. Monday night, the Vikings shot 14-of-29 (.483) in the first half while building a 20-point lead in in the opening 20 minutes against the Lady Griz.

The Vikings (9-7, 3-3 Big Sky) finished the game 23-of-49 (.469) against the Lady Griz (9-6, 4-2 Big Sky), while the Viking defense forced Montana into its own tough shooting night as the Lady Griz went 21-of-75 (.280).
 
"We had good offensive flow at the start. I liked our start on defense, too. We got a couple of stops early, which got us momentum," head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "We were getting back cuts, screens opened us up on the outside and we hit a couple of threes. It's amazing what a couple of shots going in can do, but overall I liked our flow, I liked our cutting and I liked our screens."
 
Tatiana Streun posted a career-best performance Monday to lead the Vikings. Streun finished with a career-high 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field while also going 10-of-13 from the free throw line. Additionally, Streun added nine rebounds and four steals to her 30 points against the Lady Griz.
 
Streun came up biggest when the Vikings needed her the most after the Lady Griz cut the Vikings' lead to four at 61-57 with 2:40 remaining. Streun drew a foul on the next possession and hit two free throws to push the Viking lead back up to six. Then, with the Vikings struggling on the defensive glass all night, Streun got a big defensive rebound and followed with a three-point play on the other end. That made it a nine-point game  at 66-57 with 1:48 remaining, and the Lady Griz wouldn't get closer than that the rest of the way.
 
Streun benefited from a good connection with fellow post Jordan Stotler, who fed Streun time after time when the Vikings would need a bucket in the second half. Stotler finished with a career-high eight assists against the Lady Griz, five of which came in the second half.
 
"Those two really worked well together tonight," Kennedy said of Streun and Stotler. "They do it all the time in practice. This was the first game this year where they worked really, really well together. Passing it, cutting it, seeing each other on the high-low. They fed each other tonight. If Jordan missed, Tots was usually there for the rebound. And that really opened us up on the outside, too."
 
Stotler's feeding of Streun nearly gave her a triple-double as she finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and eight assists – not to mention her six blocks Monday.
 
Stotler's performance continued a long run of standout play for the Viking senior. In the past four games, Stotler, who was named the Big Sky Player of the Week last Tuesday, has averaged 13.25 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 4.5 blocks per game for the Vikings.
 
The one negative for the Vikings in Monday's game came on the boards where the Lady Griz finished with a huge advantage over the Vikings. The Lady Griz out-rebounded the Vikings 50-to-33, with 27 of the Lady Griz's 50 rebounds coming on the offensive end. Seventeen of the Lady Griz's 27 offensive rebounds came in the second half, when Montana scored 15 second-chance points.
 
There was one stretch at the start of the fourth quarter when the ball did not leave Montana's offensive half for more than 90 seconds of game time. The Lady Griz recorded two offensive rebounds in that stretch, and twice stole the ball right after the Vikings had secured a rebound or steal.
 
The Lady Griz came up empty that time, but it was soon after that that the Lady Griz cut the lead to four.
 
In addition to the offensive rebounding, the Lady Griz used some hot three-point shooting to come back in the second half, as six of their eight three-pointers came after halftime.
 
Gabi Harrington banked in a three-pointer just before halftime for the Lady Griz, while Mckenzie Johnston followed with two more three-pointers in the first two minutes of the second half. Johnston's second three-pointer ended an 11-0 Montana run that came right after the Vikings had built their largest lead of the game at 39-19 with 14 seconds left in the first half.
 
The 11-0 run made it 39-30 in favor of the Vikings, and the game remained in that range until the Lady Griz made their run in the fourth quarter. The Vikings answered with a 9-1 after the Lady Griz cut it to four, however, and out-scored the Lady Griz 17-8 in the final two and a half minutes of the game.
 
"I loved how we finished. We hung strong. We had the lead so we told them, 'nothing's wrong. Let's go. Let's continue to do it.' They're a good team, and we came out and finished strong," Kennedy said.
 
Portland State freshman Belle Frazier had the hot hand from deep early in the game, as she finished the first half shooting 3-of-5 from three-point range. Eleven of Frazier's 13 points came in the first half, when she, Stotler and Streun accounted for 34 of the Vikings' 39 points.
 
Frazier's second three-pointer came as part of a 17-2 start to the second quarter for the Vikings that turned a 17-13 PSU lead into a 34-15 advantage. Frazier hit her third three-pointer with 1:13 remaining before halftime, making it 37-19 in favor of the Vikings.
 
Junior guard Kylie Jimenez posted one of her best all-around performances Monday. Jimenez scored all 10 of her points in the second half while adding six assists, four rebounds and two steals.
 
The Vikings hit the road for their next two games, as they play at Idaho State Saturday and then head over to Weber State the following Monday. The Vikings and Bengals will tip off at 2 p.m. (MT) Saturday in Pocatello, Idaho.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 20-49 all time against Montana with Monday's win…The Vikings have won five of their last seven against the Lady Griz, including their last four home games against them…Stotler moved past Kelsey Kahle (2005-09) and Katy Wade (2008-11) for sixth on the all-time blocks list at Portland State with 99 blocks now in her career…Stotler also has 53 blocks this season, which already ranks as the fifth-best single-season total in program history...Monday's game was presented by Les Schwab.