SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The March renaissance for the Portland State women's basketball team continued Friday, as the Vikings won their third straight game while beating Sacramento State 91-68 at The Nest in their regular-season finale.
 
The win secured the No. 7 seed for the Vikings at next week's Big Sky tournament, where they'll face 10th-seeded Eastern Washington in the first round Monday. Tipoff for the Vikings' first-round game will be 30 minutes after the conclusion of Monday's first game, approximately 5 p.m.
 
Friday's win over the Hornets was a renaissance for the Vikings' offense, as the 91 points were the Vikings' most since scoring 104 in their season opener against Multnomah. Two days after Desirae Hansen and Kylie Jimenez combined for 47 of the team's 68 points in a win over Northern Arizona, balance led the way for the Vikings (15-15, 9-11 Big Sky) as all five starters scored in double figures against the Hornets (8-21, 6-14 Big Sky).
 
"We had great balance offensively tonight," head coach Lynn Kennedy said after the game. "The inside game was established early on and that allowed some easy shots on the outside. It was a combination of posts getting great position and I thought our guards did an outstanding job of finding the mismatches."
 
Starting posts Tatiana Streun and Jordan Stotler both had resurgent games for the Vikings down low. Streun led the Vikings with 21 points, her highest point total since scoring a career-high 30 against Montana on Jan. 13. Additionally, Streun grabbed nine rebounds Friday for her most rebounds since finishing with 11 against Weber State on Jan. 20.
 
Streun played her best at the start of the fourth quarter, when Sacramento State narrowed the Vikings' lead to single digits. Streun scored seven of the Vikings' first nine points in the quarter while finishing with 11 as the Vikings extended their lead for a stress-free final 10 minutes.
 
Stotler, meanwhile, nearly had a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight blocks. Stotler's eight blocks were one off the single-game record of nine that she tied against Tennessee on Dec. 21.
 
Stotler broke the single-season program record for blocks during the game, surpassing Courtney West's old record of 94 that she set during the 2016-17 season. Stotler broke the record with her seventh block of the game, and then followed with her eighth block on the same possession.
 
"Jordan played at a different level tonight," Kennedy said of Stotler. "She knows it's March and she's ready to step up and dominate defensively. She was so close to a triple-double but oh well. Tonight was her best overall game as a Viking."
 

?? NEW PROGRAM RECORD! ??@jordanstotler breaks the single-season program record for blocks with two back-to-back (who cares about the foul). Stotler has 96 blocks now, surpassing the old record of 94 that Courtney West set during the 2016-17 season.#GoViks #ProudViks

— Portland State Women's Basketball Twitter @psuviksWBB, March 7, 2020

 
Those two helped open up the outside for the Vikings' guards, who responded by going 14-of-29 (.483) from three-point range. The Vikings are 39-of-87 (.448) from three-point range over their last three games, and have hit at least 10 three-pointers in all three games.
 
Freshman Belle Frazier tied a career high with five three-pointers Friday, with four of those five coming in a five-minute stretch from the end of the first half to the start of the second. Frazier hit two three-pointers in the final 35 seconds of the first half, helping the Vikings take a 14-point lead after the opening 20 minutes.
 
Frazier came out firing again at the start of the second half, hitting two more in the first four minutes of the third quarter.
 
The Hornets stayed with the Vikings throughout the third quarter, however, and closed within six after going on a 9-0 run just before the start of the fourth quarter. Jimenez snapped the run with a driving layup just before the third-quarter buzzer, and Streun helped the Vikings push their lead to double digits again at the start of the fourth.
 
The Vikings put the game away with a 14-2 run that Jimenez kicked off with a three-pointer with 6:28 remaining. Streun added four more points after that, while two free throws from Ruchae Walton gave the Vikings their first 20-point lead at 88-67 with 1:13 remaining.
 
Freshman Jada Lewis – originally from Rocklin, Calif., 20 miles from Sacramento – hit two late three-pointers in front of a hometown crowd.
 
Besides Streun and Stotler, Frazier finished with 17 points Friday for her highest point total since the Vikings' road win at Idaho State on Jan. 18.
 
Hansen and Jimenez finished with 16 and 13 points, respectively, as the Vikings' balance meant they could focus on distributing the ball more than they did Wednesday when they both scored over 20 points. Hansen added eight assists to her 16 points Friday, while Jimenez added seven. Frazier and Stotler also had four and three assists each, as the Vikings finished with 24 assists on 33 field goals.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 31-19 all time against Sacramento State after Friday…The Vikings have won six of their last eight against the Hornets, including their last four at The Nest…Besides setting a new Portland State single-season record, Stotler's 96 blocks rank as the fourth-best single-season total in Big Sky Conference history…Only two Big Sky players have ever had 100 or more blocks (EWU's Brenda Souther, 100 in 1983-84; Sacramento State's Megan Kritscher, 111 in 2012-13), which Stotler can reach with four more blocks.