PORTLAND, Ore. — A Viking responds.
 
The Portland State women's basketball team responded to two tough losses last weekend with a 75-71 win at Viking Pavilion Friday over a quality Pepperdine team that pushed then-No. 20 UCLA earlier in the season.
 
It wasn't just a game-to-game response, though. The Vikings (4-4) also responded when Pepperdine (3-5) took a 16-6 lead early in the game, out-scoring the Waves 35-15 over the next 14 minutes of game time to take a 41-31 lead in the third quarter. Additionally, the Vikings responded late in the game Friday, after the Waves scored eight straight to re-take the lead at 63-62 with just over four minutes remaining. The Vikings scored the next seven straight to go up 69-63 with less than two minutes left, then held on for the win.
 
"I'm really proud of our response tonight because we could have shut it down and not been ready to go. But that's not what happened. Especially early, we could have shut it down after their run, but we continued to battle and stay together," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said afterwards.
 
"We've been talking about it. It's not going to happen overnight. We've got to show some grittiness, and continue to make progress towards getting better every day. Up and down the roster, when minutes were given tonight, they were ready to go. And those who weren't given minutes were great on the bench. There's not enough shoutouts to go around."
 
Jada Lewis capped the Vikings' 7-0 run late with her fifth three-pointer of the game, as she and the Vikings broke out of a shooting slump that had plagued them since their game at Utah Valley on Nov. 27. The Vikings were a combined 9-of-48 (.188) from three-point range over their last three games coming into Friday, but went 12-of-19 (.632) from deep against the Waves.
 
Lewis went 5-of-7 from three-point range Friday, while freshman point guard Esmeralda Morales went 5-of-6. Both players finished with 21 points to lead all scorers in the game.
 
"It's always nice to see the ball go through the net. To have 5-of-6, 5-of-7 for Esme and Jada – Jenna [Kilty] coming in – I love it," Gregg said. "That's what we're capable of, but we can't rely on shooting 12-of-19 from the three-point line every game. So, we've got to continue to find ways to get it done and step up and shoot it with confidence."
 
It wasn't just the three-point shooting that improved for the Vikings over last week, however. The Vikings rebounded so much better than they did last week, when they were out-rebounded by more than 20 in each game. In contrast, the Waves barely edged the Vikings on the boards, 30-to-28, though the Vikings out-rebounded the Waves 15-to-13 after halftime.
 
Four of the Vikings' five rebounds in the fourth quarter came on the offensive end, while two of those four led to key second-chance three-pointers. Savannah Dhaliwal grabbed the first one, and passed out to Morales for a three-pointer that doubled the Vikings' lead after the Waves had drawn back within three. Rhema Ogele then had the second offensive rebound, which led to another triple for Morales that made it 62-55 with 7:14 remaining.
 
Ogele also got a big defensive rebound with less than 10 seconds left in the game that led to two free throws for Morales that iced the game.
 
"We weren't super happy with our rebounding in the first half, but in the second half we really stepped it up," Gregg said. "We just talked about people getting second chances against us, so why not us? Why can't we go get an extra possession?"
 
Both Dhaliwal and Ogele finished with six rebounds to lead the Vikings, with the majority coming in the second half for both players. Dhaliwal recorded five of her six rebounds in the second half, when she also scored six of her 10 points. Ogele, meanwhile, grabbed four of her six rebounds in the fourth quarter, including three of her four offensive rebounds in the game.
 
The Vikings got a lift earlier in the game from Morgan Baird, who scored six points in the first half on 3-of-3 shooting from the field. Baird scored her first two buckets right after the Waves went up 16-6, as she helped kickstart the Vikings' run that got them back in the game.
 
Lewis took over in the second quarter, as she scored 11 of her 21 points in the period while going a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-3 from three-point range. Lewis gave the Vikings their first lead since it was 6-4 with her second triple of the quarter that put the Vikings up 23-22 with 5:43 remaining before halftime. Lewis hit her third triple right before halftime, as Morales fed her in the right corner for a buzzer beater that gave the Vikings a 35-31 halftime lead.
 
The Vikings got two early fast-break layups at the start of the third quarter that extended the Vikings' lead to 10. Jenna Kilty gave the Vikings their largest lead of the game with a three-pointer from straightaway that made it 54-42 with 1:10 remaining.
 
The Waves answered with a pressure defense that saw them get back in the game in the fourth quarter. But once again, the Vikings responded, as they made the plays needed to win.
 
"You can always get better at [end-of-game situations] and so we'll continue to practice those, but sometimes just the will to win is the difference," Gregg said of the team's play late. "Coaches always talk about it, but you play to win, not to lose. And we can't have teams put us on our heels late. We want to still be the aggressors and have confidence at the end, and we had a little bit more of that tonight."
 
Mia 'Uhila hit two key free throws that made it a two-possession game with less than 23 seconds remaining. The Vikings then forced a miss on the Waves' next possession – one of only two shots the Waves missed in the entire fourth quarter – and Morales followed with two more from the line to ice it.
 
'Uhila added nine points for the Vikings besides the 21 each from Lewis and Morales and 10 from Dhaliwal. 'Uhila and Morales also each had three steals in the game, while the Vikings finished with 10 steals as a team.
 
Additionally, Morales tied her career high with nine assists, while the Vikings assisted on 18 of their 29 field goals for their highest assist total since they had 23 in their win over Dixie State on Nov. 12.
 
It's only appropriate that the Vikings pass the resiliency test Friday, as it was the last day of finals for fall term at Portland State.
 
The Vikings face another test Sunday, when they host cross-town rival University of Portland at Viking Pavilion. The Vikings and Pilots tip off at 2 p.m.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings won their first game against Pepperdine with Friday's win…Pepperdine had been 4-0 against the Vikings before Friday, though the teams hadn't played since the 2003-04 season…The Vikings shot over 50 percent from the field (29-of-57, .509) for the first time since their season opener against Warner Pacific on Nov. 9…The Vikings lost the turnover battle (16 for PSU, 13 for Pepperdine) for only the second time this season.