SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Without one of its starters for the whole game and two more sat on the bench with four fouls early in the fourth quarter, the Portland State women's basketball team got a season-best performance from its bench to close out a 74-64 road win at Sacramento State Saturday, completing a weekend sweep of the Hornets.
 
Junior guard Desirae Hansen picked up her fourth foul on an offensive foul with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter. The Hornets (0-7, 0-4 Big Sky) had just cut the Vikings' lead to one at 57-56 on the previous possession, and fellow starter Tatiana Streun went to the bench with her fourth foul less than a minute earlier.
 
Freshman Morgan Baird came in for Hansen and fed sophomore Syd Schultz with a pass over the top of the defense for a layup that snapped the Hornets' run. Baird then hit two free throws on the Vikings' next possession, before senior Labrea Denson – another one of the Vikings' bench players – fed her inside for a layup that pushed the Vikings' lead back out to seven at 63-56 with less than five minutes remaining.
 
Denson came up big again a little later, stealing the ball from the much-taller Tiana Johnson before sending a quick pass ahead to teammate Kylie Jimenez, who scored a fast-break layup that closed out an 11-0 Viking run that put the game away.
 
"It was a great team win today," head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards. "With Jenna [Kilty, the Vikings' usual starter who wasn't able to play today] going down last game, we needed players to step up and we got that today. We really finished the game well, especially with our rebounds."
 
The Vikings (3-3, 2-2 Big Sky) out-rebounded the Hornets 14-5 in the fourth quarter, which helped the Viking defense hold the Hornets scoreless for over four and a half minutes in the middle of the period. The Hornets got within one at the 7:07 mark of the fourth but then did not score again until 2:36 remained in the game.
 
The Portland State bench also came up big in the third quarter, when a 13-3 Sacramento State run gave the Hornets their first lead since the opening minutes at 49-46. Denson immediately answered with her first three-pointer of the season to tie it again at 49-49. A good press break on the Vikings' next possession then led to an easy layup for Schultz that gave the Vikings the lead back at 51-49. Baird scored on the team's next possession, rebounding her own miss to give the Vikings a 53-49 lead with 1:23 remaining in the third.
 
Baird came into Saturday's game still scoreless on the season, but finished with 10 points to lead the Vikings' bench and record her first double-digit scoring game as a Viking. Schultz also tied her season high with eight points to go with seven rebounds, while Denson finished with a season-high five points to go with four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
 
All told, the Vikings out-scored the Hornets 25-11 in bench points, with the 25 points marking the Viking bench's most in a game in close to two years. The Vikings bench hasn't scored that much in a game since Feb. 21, 2019, when they scored 27 against Idaho State behind 16 for Savannah Dhaliwal.
 
Streun still led the Vikings overall Saturday, as she posted one of her best games of the season to date. Streun scored a season-high 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the floor while adding nine rebounds (four offensive) to go with two steals. Streun hit 500 rebounds in her career during Saturday's game, and now trails former teammate Pia Jurhar by 51 rebounds for 10th-place all time at Portland State.
 
Sophomore Jada Lewis continued her hot streak from three-point range, adding 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from deep to go with a season-high eight rebounds. Lewis is now 11-of-20 over the last three games – all starts – giving her an average of 3.75 triples a game in that stretch.
 
Lewis hit her first two three-pointers of the game as part of a 10-0 run for the Vikings that put them in control until the Hornets' run in the third. Jimenez scored the last two points of that run on another fast break, helping her go into double figures for the game with 11 points. Seven of Jimenez's 11 points came in the fourth quarter as she helped close out the game for the Vikings.
 
The Vikings showed two big improvements over Thursday's win over the Hornets, which was a nail-biting 66-64 overtime win in which the Vikings held off a furious fourth-quarter comeback. The Vikings shot 49.1 percent (28-of-57) Saturday, after going just 31.7 percent (20-of-63) from the floor Thursday. Additionally, the Vikings were 7-of-14 from the floor in the fourth quarter Saturday, two days after going just 2-of-17 in the final period of regulation.
 
"Our shooting was better today because we executed and found the mismatches, and we were in the right spots. We need to continue that into practice next week to maintain this momentum," Kennedy said afterwards.
 
Finishing in the paint helped bolster the Vikings' shooting numbers, as well. The Vikings out-scored the Hornets 40-24 in the paint, two days after the Hornets out-scored the Vikings 36-22.
 
Additionally, the Vikings other big improvement came on the boards as the Vikings posted their best rebounding game of the season Saturday. The Vikings out-rebounded the Hornets 42-31, including a 22-13 advantage in the second half.
 
The Vikings return home for a weekend series against Montana State next week, hosting the Bobcats for a 7 p.m. start Thursday, Jan. 14, and a 12 p.m. start Saturday, Jan. 16.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 33-19 all time against Sacramento State after Saturday's win…The Vikings have won seven of their last eight games against the Hornets…Hansen had her 17-game streak of scoring at least 10 points snapped Saturday…Jimenez moved into a tie with Karen Johnson (1980-84) and Sheri Stemple (1991-93) for 17th on the all-time scoring list at Portland State with her 11 points Saturday.