BOISE, Idaho — The Portland State women's basketball team led for the first 17 minutes of the second half, but a late rally by Idaho ended the Vikings' attempt at a fourth straight trip to the Big Sky tournament semifinals. The Vandals scored seven straight points over a two minute stretch near the end of the fourth quarter, and that proved to be the decisive run as the Vandals eliminated the Vikings, 56-54, in Tuesday's quarterfinal at CenturyLink Arena.
 
The Vikings held Idaho to 1-of-17 (.059) from three-point range Tuesday, and held Idaho's Gina Marxen – an All-Big Sky first-team guard – without a point while she was 0-of-9 from the field. The Vikings outshot Idaho .429-to-.317 in the game, but a 41-31 advantage for the Vandals on the boards that led to a 15-2 advantage in second-chance points was too much to overcome.
 
"I loved how our team found a way this year, especially when we were down. I think everybody kind of wrote us off during our tough stretch in February," head coach Lynn Kennedy said of his team afterwards.
 
"I thought we were playing our best basketball over the last two weeks. We were confident we could win the tournament again, and I think everybody can see after today that we had a chance. A couple of things go our way in this game and it's a different story.
 
The Vikings got a big game from senior Jordan Stotler in what proved to be her final game in a Viking uniform. Stotler was especially big early for the Vikings, scoring 12 of the team's first 25 points as they battled back from an early deficit. Stotler finished with 17 points to go with 10 rebounds, giving the senior forward her third straight double-double to close out the season.
 
Stotler even found her stroke from the outside, setting a new career-high with three three-point field goals. Additionally, Stotler reached 100 blocks for the season in the game, making her just the third player in Big Sky Conference history – and the first Viking – to block 100 shots in a single season.
 
"Really proud of Jordan. The way that she ended her senior season tonight…it really was an unbelieve game from her. The best game of her career," Kennedy said of Stotler.
 
Stotler's performance in the first half kept the Vikings even with the Vandals (21-9), while a strong start to the third quarter saw the Vikings extend their lead. Tatiana Streun came alive for the Vikings in the third quarter, scoring the first four points after halftime as the Vikings pushed what had been a one-point lead at the break to a 31-26 advantage.
 
Freshman Belle Frazier hit her first three-pointer of the game a few possessions later, before four more points by Streun gave the Vikings their largest lead of the game at 38-30 with 4:27 remaining in the third.
 
Idaho came back from there, however, as the Vandals used a 12-4 run to tie the game at 42 at the start of the fourth quarter. Idaho's offensive rebounds started to hurt the Vikings. The Vandals grabbed seven offensive rebounds in the second half, which led to nine second-chance points for the Vandals after halftime.
 
The Vikings still stayed ahead of the Vandals until late in the fourth quarter. Streun gave the Vikings a four-point lead again at 50-46 when she converted a three-point play with less than four minutes remaining in the game.
 
Idaho's Natlie Klinker responded with her own three-point play after an offensive rebound on the next possession, however, and then scored another second-chance bucket the next time down the court to give the Vandals their first lead of the second half. Klinker hit two more free throws to put the Vandals up 53-50 with less than two minutes remaining.
 
The Vikings still had opportunities to come back, but went cold down the stretch. The Vikings went more than three and a half minutes without a field goal at the end of the game, and went 1-of-2 on two different trips to the line in the final two minutes.
 
The Vikings cut it to one at 53-52 with 42 seconds remaining, but Idaho responded with a layup to go up 55-52 while winding the clock all the way down to 15 seconds. A missed layup on the other end meant the Vikings had to foul, and the Vandals hit one of two to push their lead to two possessions at 56-52. Desirae Hansen hit a layup with two seconds left to make it 56-54, but Idaho in-bounded the ball cleanly and ran out the clock.
 
Streun finished with 14 points in the second half, giving her a team-high 18 on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. Hansen also went into double figures with 10 points while chipping in six rebounds and four assists.
 
"I'm proud of our team and the way that we competed all year. Again, we played our basketball at the end of the season," Kennedy said.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 14-28 against Idaho after Tuesday's game…This was the third straight season that the Vikings and Vandals met in the Big Sky tournament…Idaho won in the semifinals in 2018, while the Vikings won in the semifinals in 2019…Tuesday's loss means the Vikings are now 1-2 against the Vandals at the Big Sky tournament…With five assists Tuesday, junior Kylie Jimenez moved past Michele Hughes (1987-91) for fourth on the all-time assists list at Portland State…Jimenez also moved into a tie for fourth on the all-time steals list, leaving her even with Laurie Northrop (1988-92) with 223 steals for the time being.