PORTLAND, Ore. — Sophomore Jada Lewis scored the Portland State women's basketball team's first 12 points in the fourth quarter Thursday against the defending-Big-Sky-champion Montana State Bobcats. Lewis snapped the streak on her own accord, dishing to teammate Desirae Hansen for an easy layup that gave the Vikings a 62-58 lead with five minutes remaining.
 
But that's when momentum shifted to the Bobcats (5-4, 2-1 Big Sky) for good, as they closed the game on an extended 17-5 run to top the Vikings 75-67 at Viking Pavilion.
 
"It was just key possessions down the stretch," Portland State head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "I liked a lot of what we did tonight. We've got to score more in the first half, and we could have extended our lead when we had it in the third and fourth."
 
"We've got to make some adjustments, especially on the defensive end and keep looking for mismatches on the offensive end. But we're taking one more step, one more day towards getting better."
 
Down 63-62 with less than three and a half minutes remaining, the Vikings (3-4, 2-3 Big Sky) missed two layups on back-to-back possessions, while the Bobcats scored on the other end each time to take a 68-62 lead. Lewis cut the deficit in half with her third three-pointer of the fourth quarter with 1:57 remaining, but that'd be the last field goal of the game for the Vikings.
 
Lewis ended up scoring 15 of the Vikings' 19 points in the fourth quarter, and assisted on the team's only other field goal in the period.
 
The Vikings traded the hot hand between several players throughout the game. In the first quarter, Hansen scored eight of the team's 16 points as the Vikings took a 16-15 lead after one. Senior Kylie Jimenez then took control in the third quarter, when she scored 10 of the team's 21 points while adding three assists and two steals. Lewis' 15 points in the fourth, meanwhile, came within one point of the school record for points in a quarter that Sidney Rielly set with 16 in the first quarter against Montana on Jan. 5, 2019.
 
The teams also traded momentum between one another in the second half. The Bobcats opened the third quarter with five quick points to take the largest lead of the game to that point at 35-27. Jimenez answered immediately with a three-pointer to kick start a 10-2 run that tied the game again at 37-37. Freshman Jenna Kilty followed Jimenez's three with a fast-break layup on the Vikings' next possession, then passed up a jumper to drop a pretty pass down low to sophomore Syd Schultz for an easy layup. Lewis capped the run with her first three-pointer of the game at the 6:27 mark of the third quarter.
 
The Bobcats answered to take a four-point lead at 52-48 going into the fourth quarter, but that's when Lewis went entered her NBA Jam On-Fire mode to give the Vikings the lead back. Lewis opened the fourth with a deft floater along the baseline on the Vikings' first possession. The sophomore guard then tied the game at 54-54 with a driving layup as the shot clock was winding down. Lewis hit tack-to-back triples a few moments later to give the Vikings a 60-56 lead with 6:06 remaining.
 
Rebounding, which had been a strength for the Vikings in last week's sweep of Sacramento State, escaped the Vikings Thursday, however, as the Bobcats took control late. The Bobcats out-rebounded the Vikings 43-30, including an 18-5 advantage on the offensive glass. That led to 17 second-chance points for the Bobcats, 10 of which came in the second half.
 
"We didn't play with the same energy that we had against Sac State. We have to bring that every night, especially there at the end of the fourth," Kennedy said of his team's effort on the glass.
 
On the positive side, the Vikings handled the Bobcats' pressure defense relatively well, giving up only 11 turnovers to a team that came into the game forcing opponents into an average of 17.6 a game.
 
The Vikings also shot the ball well for the second game in a row, especially in the second half. The Vikings went 25-of-53 (.472) from the field Thursday, and hit 14-of-25 (.560) after halftime. The Vikings hit 10+ three-pointers for the third time this season, going 11-of-26 (.423) for the game and 7-of-12 (.583) in the second half.
 
Lewis finished 6-of-11 from the field while scoring a game-high 18 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds. Hansen added 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting to go with six rebounds and two assists. Jimenez made 3-of-4 shots from three-point range and 5-of-8 overall while scoring 14 points to go with seven assists and three steals. Kilty and Schultz chipped in 10 and eight points, respectively, while freshman Nakia Boston was the only other Viking to score with two points to go with two rebounds and two assists.
 
This season's unique Big Sky schedule means the Vikings will get a second chance at the Bobcats Saturday, when they tip off at 12 p.m.
 
"We didn't find our mismatches well enough at the end so we're going to take a look at that. It's pretty much an even game. They got to the free-throw line and got offensive rebounds. We need to be better there, but we got threes. It's got to be more of a balanced act Saturday," Kennedy said.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fall to 29-38 all time against Montana State after Thursday's loss…Jimenez's seven assists Thursday means she's now only 31 away from becoming just the third player in Portland State history to record 500 in her career…Jimenez's three steals Thursday give her 240 in her career, leaving her only 10 from 250 – a milestone only three other players have reached in their Viking careers.