PORTLAND, Ore. — Down double digits after another slow start, the Portland State women's basketball team found an answer Saturday, coming back to beat Northern Arizona 66-54 Saturday afternoon at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings (12-8, 6-4 Big Sky) didn't have an answer to a slow start Thursday against Sacramento State. The Vikings started in a 7-0 hole against the Hornets Thursday, and while they came back to take leads in the second half, they couldn't fully get over the hump while losing 73-70. Slow starts had also been an issue in the Vikings' three other Big Sky losses this season to Northern Colorado, Southern Utah and Montana State.
 
Saturday looked to be headed that same way, as NAU (8-9, 5-3 Big Sky) scored the first nine points against the Vikings, and led 13-2 with 3:53 left in the first quarter. The Vikings had the answer this time around, however, as they out-scored the Lumberjacks 31-10 over the final 13 minutes of the first half.
 
"I think a lot of our struggles on Thursday were tied to being in the middle of four games in eight days," head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "We didn't know how to respond [to Sacramento State] Thursday, so over the last two days, we talked a lot about responding and being better. The schedule is the schedule. We still didn't come ready to play today, but I like how we responded in the middle of the first quarter. Even though we were in foul trouble, too, we decided to be better."
 
The Vikings didn't only make up the deficit Saturday, they surged past NAU. The Vikings trailed 22-15 with 6:44 left in the second quarter, but then closed the half on an 18-1 run and never allowed NAU closer than six points in the second half. That was another big difference from Thursday night, when the Vikings would come back to tie or take a small lead over Sacramento State but then immediately fall behind again.
 
"Tonight we had an answer for every one of their runs," Kennedy said. "We didn't have that Thursday and so that was big in our win today."
 
Northern Arizona came into Saturday's game, having won a Big Sky-leading five straight games. No Big Sky team had beaten the Lumberjacks since the opening weekend of Big Sky play, and NAU had risen to third in the conference standings as a result.
 
Saturday's comeback win was even more impressive considering the Vikings did the majority of it with their two starting post players sitting on the bench in foul trouble. Senior forward Jordan Stotler picked up a foul on NAU's first possession of the game, and sat all but 17 seconds of the first quarter. Redshirt junior Tatiana Streun, meanwhile, picked up her second foul with more than three minutes remaining in the first quarter, and didn't play at all in the second period as a result.
 
In the past, foul trouble for Stotler and Streun had spelled doom for the Vikings. Not Saturday. Two freshmen – Belle Frazier and Syd Schultz – stepped up to lead the Vikings in the second quarter, when the Vikings mounted their comeback.
 
Frazier scored 12 of the Vikings' first 22 points of the game, while her three-pointer with 4:23 remaining before halftime tied the game for the Vikings at 22-22. Schultz then converted back-to-back second-chance buckets late in the second quarter, the second of which gave the Vikings a 31-23 lead with 50 seconds remaining before half. 
 
Schultz played the best half of her young Viking career in the first half, finishing with eight points and five rebounds (three offensive) while playing 13 of the opening 20 minutes. For perspective, Schultz hadn't played more than 13 minutes in a game since the opening weekend of Big Sky play, and hadn't scored more than eight points since the Vikings' season opener against Multnomah.
 
Schultz finished the game with 10 points, tying her career high while adding seven rebounds and a steal in 22 minutes played.
 
"That's the player we recruited," Kennedy said of Schultz' play in the second quarter. "Syd played with a lot of confidence today. She played with a lot of authority. She started rebounding the ball like she did in high school when she led the state of Wisconsin in rebounding.
 
"We need more games like this from her. It's something as a coach that you wish you could bottle up and take to the next game. But that's okay. We'll take it for this game."
 
Both teams played even in the second half, with the Vikings answering every NAU run with one of their own. Cassidy Gardner, another freshman, came up big after NAU had closed to within six at 43-37 in the third quarter. Gardner hit a three-pointer from the left baseline to make it a nine-point game again, and then hit another three-pointer – this time from the left wing – to make it 49-37 PSU with less than a minute to go before the fourth quarter. Junior guard Kylie Jimenez added two free throws with a second left in the third, giving the Vikings at 14-point lead at 51-37 going into the fourth.
 
Three-point shooting helped the Vikings answer another NAU run in the fourth quarter. NAU's Nina Radford hit a mid-range jumper with 4:20 remaining to make it 55-49, but Desirae Hansen immediately answered with a three the next time down the court for the Vikings. Schultz then grabbed a big defensive rebound after the Vikings stopped NAU on its next possession, and Jimenez followed with a three to give the Vikings a 61-49 lead with 3:11 remaining. NAU didn't closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
 
The Lumberjacks came into Saturday's game as the second-ranked offense in the Big Sky for points per game (74.6) and field goal percentage (.432). The Viking defense held them to 54 points and 21-of-62 (.339) shooting, however, both of which were season lows for the Lumberjacks against a Big Sky opponent. NAU's previous scoring low in Big Sky play was 64 points against Montana State on Dec. 30.
 
The Vikings also played relatively good defense on NAU's Khiarica Rasheed, who came into Saturday's game averaging nearly 20 points a game and shooting over 60 percent from the floor in Big Sky play. Rasheed still finished closed to her average with 18 points, but she went just 5-of-15 (.333) from the floor as most of her damage came from the free throw line.
 
Stotler, after her early foul trouble, helped lead the Vikings' defense on Rasheed, finishing with five blocks to go with eight points, nine rebounds and two steals. Stotler's five blocks moved her past Kelli Chandler-Read (1994-97) for second on the career blocks list at Portland State. Stotler now has 119 blocks in her career, ranking her second only to her former teammate Courtney West, who is the career leader with 260.
 
Stotler still has a chance to break West's single-season record, as she has 73 blocks this season after Saturday. West set the record with 94 blocks during the 2016-17 season, while Sacramento State's Megan Kritscher set the single-season record for the Big Sky Conference with 111 blocks during the 2012-13 season. Stotler averages 3.7 blocks per game after Saturday, so with 11 more games guaranteed this season, she would finished with 113.7 blocks if she maintains her current pace.
 
Frazier finished with 13 points to lead the Vikings while adding four steals and three rebounds. Jimenez had 12 points to go with eight assists, two rebounds and two steals, while Hansen finished with nine points, eight rebounds and five assists. Hansen's eight rebounds were second only to Stotler's nine for the Vikings, and tied a season high for her.
 
The Vikings will still hope to start better when they travel to face Montana (Thursday, 6 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. MT) for their next game, but at least they know now that they have the answers to a slow start after Saturday.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings lead the all-time series between them and the Lumberjacks, 27-23…The Vikings have now won nine straight against NAU after Saturday, with their last loss in the series coming on March 5, 2015…Seven different Vikings finished with six or more points Saturday, the first time that's happened since the team's win over Nevada on Nov. 23…Jimenez's eight assists moved her into seventh place on her own in school history as she passed her former teammate Ashley Bolston (2016-19).