POCATELLO, Idaho — It was a tale of two halves for the Portland State women's basketball team Thursday night against Idaho State.
 
In the first half, the Vikings led 31-30 while out-rebounding the Bengals – the Big Sky's best rebounding team – 21-14. In the second half, though, it was all Idaho State as the Bengals closed out an 80-55 victory at Reed Gym behind a 25-7 fourth quarter.
 
The Bengals (11-1, 9-0 Big Sky) out-rebounded the Vikings 20-10 in the second half, and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds after the Vikings (4-5, 3-4 Big Sky) limited them to two in the second half. The bigger issue in the second half became the Vikings' turnovers, as Portland State gave up 14 after halftime while Idaho State outscored the Vikings 19-0 in points off turnovers.
 
"We can't beat ourselves and we did that in the second half tonight," Portland State head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "I liked our energy and intensity in the first half, but we needed to carry that over into the second half in a game like this."
 
Thursday's bright spot for the Vikings came from the team's freshmen, particularly Jenna Kilty, Nakia Boston and Morgan Baird. Kilty scored all 11 of her points in the first half when she, Boston and Baird accounted for 22 of the team's 31 points. Those three were also a combined 9-of-16 (.563) in the first half while the rest of the Vikings were just 2-of-10 (.200).
 
Kilty and Boston ended the game with a share of the team lead with 11 points each. It was the third double-digit scoring game for both freshmen out of nine so far this season. Boston also scored in double figures in the Vikings' previous game against Montana State, giving her an average of 10.5 points, 2.5 assists, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game over the team's last two games. Baird also hit double figures Thursday with 10 points, and has now hit double figures in two of the Vikings' last four games.
 
Junior Desirae Hansen was the only other player to score in double figures, chipping in 10 points to go with a team-high seven rebounds. Hansen did not have a field goal in the first half, however, but hit three in the third quarter to keep the Vikings in it.
 
Hansen's second jumper of the third made it a 40-38 game with 6:28 remaining. Idaho State responded with a 6-0 run to take their largest lead to that point at 46-38, but the Vikings answered with back-to-back triples from Boston and senior Kylie Jimenez.
 
Idaho State closed the third quarter on a 9-4 run, however, and then opened the fourth quarter on another 12-2 burst.
 
The Bengals' Dora Goles and Diaba Konate each caught fire in the second half. The Vikings held the two players to three points combined in the first half, but the pair combined for 33 in the second half. Goles went 5-of-7 from three-point range while scoring 19 in the second half, while Konate scored all 14 of her points after halftime.
 
The Vikings shot the ball well against the Bengals' defense, which came into the game leading the Big Sky with a .359 opponent field goal percentage. The Vikings went 20-of-48 (.417) from the floor Thursday, the fourth straight game in which the Vikings have shot over 40 percent after only doing it once in their first five games. The Vikings couldn't get their three-point shooting going, however, as they finished 4-of-17 (.235) from deep with their four makes marking a new season low.
 
The Vikings will now look to win the rematch Saturday for the second straight week. The Vikings dropped their opener against Montana State last week, only to come back and beat the Bobcats Saturday.
 
The Vikings and Bengals tip off at 11 a.m. (PT) / 12 p.m. (MT) Saturday.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 23-38 all time against the Bengals with Thursday's loss…Baird swiped a career-high three steals to lead the Vikings in the category…Jimenez is now 22 assists, seven steals and 18 three-pointers away from becoming the first player in program history to record 1,000 points, 500 assists, 250 steals and 200 three-pointers in her career.