FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A common refrain for Portland State head women's basketball coach Lynn Kennedy this time of year is: you want to be playing your best basketball in March. Wednesday represented the Vikings' first game in March, and the team delivered on their coach's refrain, taking their game to another level in a 68-63 win over Northern Arizona at J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome.
 
The Vikings (14-15, 8-11 Big Sky) have now won two games in a row after a seven-game skid in February as Wednesday's win over NAU followed an 88-63 win over Weber State Saturday. The Vikings close the regular season against Sacramento State Friday, when a third straight win, coupled with a Northern Colorado loss to Montana State would move the Vikings up to the seventh seed at next week's Big Sky tournament.
 
"It was a great team win on the road," Kennedy said after Wednesday's game. "We have been talking the same message: defense, rebounding and execution. At times tonight, we had all three working. We knew they had a run in the fourth and we stayed together and finished it."
 
Desirae Hansen and Kylie Jimenez led the Vikings with 25 and 22 points, respectively, with the pair trading off the hot hand between the first and second halves. Hansen scored 19 of the Vikings' 32 points in the first half, while Jimenez scored 19 of the team's 36 points in the second half.
 
Both players have been playing especially well of late, particularly Hansen, who scored 20-plus points for the third straight game Wednesday. Hansen has scored in double figures in nine straight games, as well as 16 of the Vikings' 19 Big Sky games this season. Jimenez, meanwhile, has scored in double figures in 10 of the team's last 11 games, and has two 20-point games in that stretch including Wednesday.
 
No Viking scored in double figures outside of Hansen and Jimenez, but the Vikings had the defense to make up for it, holding NAU (15-14, 12-8 Big Sky) to 10 points below their season average. The Lumberjacks came into Wednesday ranked second in the Big Sky for scoring offense (72.8 ppg), and stood third in the conference with a .417 team field goal percentage. The Lumberjacks were just 9-of-30 (.300) at the end of the first half, however, and finished the game 22-of-61 (.361).
 
Additionally, the Vikings held NAU's Khiarica Rasheed – the Big Sky leader with a .511 field goal percentage coming into the game – to 4-of-19 (.211) shooting Wednesday. Rasheed, who also came in averaging a conference-best 19.0 points per game in Big Sky play, has only failed to shoot above 40 percentage in a conference game twice this season, and both games were against the Vikings. Besides Wednesday, the Vikings also held Rasheed to 5-of-15 (.333) in their first game against her back on Jan. 25.
 
"NAU had been playing and shooting so well. We just tried to take away the 3's and contest the inside game," Kennedy said of his team's defensive effort.
 
The strong defense didn't stop NAU from nearly coming back in the fourth quarter, even as the Vikings maintained a lead throughout. The Vikings led by eight going into the final period, but a 9-2 NAU run – punctuated by Rasheed's only three-pointer of the game – cut the Vikings' lead to one at 49-48 with 7:03 left.
 
The Vikings immediately responded with seven straight points, the last five coming from Jimenez, who went on to score 13 points in fourth quarter.
 
Jimenez hit a jumper with 4:19 left to put the Vikings up 58-50, but NAU would tighten the game again. The Lumberjacks drew within three points three different times over the final three and a half minutes of the game. NAU got within two with 24 seconds left when Jacey Bailey hit a jumper while the Vikings simultaneously fouled Rasheed, who made one of two subsequent free throws to make it 63-61.
 
Jimenez had a chance to push it back to a two-possession game, but only hit one of two free throws to make it 64-61. NAU's Nina Radford missed a three-pointer the next time down the court, but another PSU foul on the rebound sent NAU's Lauren Orndoff to the line, and Orndoff made both shots to cut it to one at 64-63.
 
Jimenez was fouled again when the Vikings got the ball back, and hit both shots this time, pushing the Vikings' lead back to three at 66-63 with 12 seconds left. NAU missed again on their next possession, and Tatiana Streun secured the rebound for the Vikings this time around. NAU fouled Streun with four seconds left, and the redshirt junior hit both free throws to ice the game.
 
Hansen scored the Vikings' first 10 points of the game, keeping the Vikings in it as NAU ran out to an early lead. Hansen had another run late in the second quarter, scoring nine straight points as the Vikings took control with a 29-20 lead with 2:49 left before half. Hansen bookended her nine-point spurt with a pair of three-pointers sandwiched around a three-point play on a good drive to the hoop.
 
Hansen has been on fire in the first half in the Vikings' last two games. In addition to her 19 points in the first half against NAU Wednesday, Hansen finished with 20 points while going 5-of-8 from three-point range in the Vikings' win over Weber State Saturday. Hansen also set a new career high for the second straight game, finishing with 25 points Wednesday after scoring 24 against Weber State Saturday.
 
Another strong game from Hansen Friday against Sacramento State could result in a third straight win for the Vikings. Just the type of run you want to go on when the calendar turns to March.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings won their 10th straight game against Northern Arizona Wednesday, and upped their series lead against NAU to 28-23…Senior forward Jordan Stotler recorded another block Wednesday, giving her 88 blocks this season and leaving her only six from matching the single-season school record that Courtney West set at 94 during the 2016-17 season…Hansen and Jimenez became the first pair of teammates to score 20-plus points in the same game since West and Hansen had 28 and 22 points, respectively, against Warner Pacific on Nov. 9, 2018...Wednesday's game was the Vikings' first road win since Jan. 20.