MISSOULA, Mont. — Desirae Hansen hit a jumper amid contact in the lane as the Portland State women's basketball team erased a 15-point third-quarter deficit to take a 46-45 lead with 8:45 left in the fourth quarter. That was only the second lead of the game for the Vikings, and their first since it was 2-0 in the opening minutes.
 
Montana responded, however, and the Lady Griz closed out the Vikings, 62-55, at Dahlberg Arena Thursday for an important win with regards to the Big Sky standings. The Lady Griz (11-8, 6-4 Big Sky) moved a half-game ahead of the Vikings (12-9, 6-5 Big Sky) for fourth in the conference standings as a result of Thursday's win. The Vikings, meanwhile, remain ahead of Northern Colorado, Southern Utah and Idaho State, but all three teams now rank within a game of each other for the fifth and final first-round bye at the Big Sky tournament in March.
 
"We played with more energy and intensity in the second half," Portland State head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "On the road, you can't play two good quarters and expect to win. We had a lot of wide open looks tonight. Second half, we had a few go in and that sparked our comeback. We also blocked out better in the second half, only giving up three offensive rebounds.
 
"In the end, you have to make shots and we didn't make enough tonight to win."
 
The Vikings finished 18-of-55 (.327) from the field, a season low for the Vikings in a Big Sky game.
 
Another slow start put the Vikings off on the wrong foot for the third straight game. Portland State started 2-of-14 from the field, while Montana started 8-of-11. The Vikings closed the first half by making six of their final 12 shots from the field, but the Lady Griz still led by 13 at the break while out-rebounding the Vikings 23-11 in the first half.
 
An early three-pointer out of halftime made it a 15-point lead for Montana at 38-23. It was still a 15-point game at 41-26 when the Vikings began a methodical run back in the game. Both teams went cold from the field, but the Vikings managed better than the Lady Griz while scoring seven straight to get within eight at 41-33.
 
The Vikings held the Lady Griz without a point from the 7:13 mark of the third quarter to the 1:58 mark. Additionally, the Vikings held Montana without a field goal for over six minutes. Montana's Jamie Pickens snapped that streak with a layup that made it 45-35 Montana with 1:24 left in the third, but that's when the Vikings made their biggest run of the game.
 
Three-pointers led the Vikings back as the Vikings made three straight from the end of the third quarter to the start of the fourth. Desirae Hansen hit the first three to cut Montana's lead to seven, while Kylie Jimenez – after missing her first five three-point attempts – hit one each on the Vikings' final possession of the third quarter and their opening possession of the fourth.
 
Jimenez's second three-pointer made it 45-44 Montana in the fourth, while Hansen hit her jumper in the lane a little later to put the Vikings up 46-45.
 
Montana responded with an 11-3 run to take a seven-point lead again at 56-49, but back-to-back three-pointers by Hansen and Jimenez brought the Vikings back within one at 56-55 with 2:30 left.
 
The Lady Griz answered with a layup on the other end, and that's when the Vikings' shooting started to leave them again. Jimenez had a three-pointer bounce in and out with 1:45 left, and then missed another three that could have tied the game with 59 seconds left.
 
Montana ran the shot clock all the way down before Taylor Goligoski hit a floater to put the Lady Griz up five at 60-55 with 32 seconds remaining. Jordan Stotler then missed a jumper in the paint with eight seconds left, and the Lady Griz sealed the win from the free throw line.
 
The Vikings finished 10-of-27 (.370) from three-point range Thursday, going 7-of-16 (.438) after their 3-of-11 start to the game. Hansen and Tatiana Streun finished with 13 points each to lead the Vikings, with most of their damage coming in the second half. Streun scored nine of her 13 points after halftime, while Hansen chipped in eight second-half points. Jimenez scored all 11 of her points in the second half, while adding a season-high five rebounds to go with three assists and two steals.
 
Freshman Belle Frazier added nine points while going 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, while Stotler added seven points to go with four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
 
The Vikings won't play again for nine days, as they have a break in their schedule due to being the Big Sky's "lone wolf" this season. The Vikings will next play Feb. 8, when they host Southern Utah at Viking Pavilion.
 
"We need to get healthy," Kennedy said of how his team will use the break. "We need the time to recover and adjust a few things but after this week, it doesn't get any easier."
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 20-50 against Montana following Thursday's loss…The Vikings fell to 4-29 all time at Montana's Dahlberg Arena…Jimenez moved into a tie with Moniqe Zampera (1996-00) for eighth on the career steals list at Portland State.