PORTLAND, Ore. — Cardiac Pack, make room for the Vikings. The Portland State women's basketball team sealed its third last-second victory in its past four games as Desirae Hansen hit three free-throws with 4.5 seconds remaining to give the Vikings an 58-56 win over Northern Arizona Sunday afternoon at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Lumberjacks (9-11, 7-9 Big Sky) got the ball into preseason Big Sky MVP Khiarica Rasheed on their final possession, but a potential game-tying jumper in the paint went high off the glass as the Vikings pulled out the victory.
 
The win follows a 75-73 win over the Lumberjacks Thursday in which Jada Lewis hit a game-winning three-pointer with 2.1 seconds left. That win came a week after a 61-60 win at Montana on Feb. 4 in which Kylie Jimenez drove for a game-winning layup with 1.7 seconds remaining.
 
All three recent close victories have come after fourth-quarter comebacks. On Feb. 4 against Montana, the Vikings (8-7, 6-6 Big Sky) trailed by seven near the start of the fourth quarter before out-scoring the Lady Griz 17-9 the rest of the way. On Thursday, the Vikings trailed by six with less than five minutes remaining before ending on a 13-5 run. Sunday's game marked the biggest comeback of all as the Vikings trailed by eight at 54-46 with 4:30 remaining before ending on a 12-2 run.
 
Sunday's comeback was made all the more impressive by the fact that it immediately followed a 13-0 NAU run that gave the Lumberjacks their largest lead of the game. The Vikings led 46-41 with 7:10 remaining when NAU scored the next 13 straight, capped by two killer three-point plays that put them up 54-46.
 
"We got down eight but then it just switched over again. I think that just shows our fight," Portland State head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterward. "It wasn't perfect tonight. I talked about it at halftime, that it was almost a bad Monday practice, one of those bad practices that you have after a weekend.
 
"Not practicing yesterday or walking through or anything like that [due to winter weather delaying the game a day], it was tough to come back here and play. They had to do it, too, but it was just tough to come back out and have the same intensity and energy. But I loved our finish."
 
Lewis snapped NAU's run with a much-needed three-pointer for the Vikings. The Lumberjacks immediately answered with a two to make it 56-49 with 3:46 remaining, but that's when freshman Jenna Kilty hit her two biggest shots yet as a Viking. Kilty knocked down back-to-back, clutch three-pointers to get the Vikings back within one at 56-55 with 2:17 remaining.
 
Both teams went cold from there. Hansen eventually blocked NAU's Regan Schenck to give the Vikings the ball back with 28 seconds remaining, still down one. NAU had fouls to give, so they let the Vikings run time off the clock before committing their third foul of the quarter with less than 10 seconds left. The Vikings passed to Hansen on the ensuing sideline-out-of-bounds play, and the junior guard looked to pass initially. No one was open, however, and so Hansen rose for a three-pointer amid a crowd. Despite having a crowd around her, Hansen nearly made the shot even as she had her feet taken out from under her as NAU's Rasheed back into her. Hansen then calmly hit all three free throws following a short review to give the game its final score at 58-56.
 
"It's great having a player like Des, who can at any point create something on her own. The play didn't work out. Our first play did, they fouled. We had a wide-open shot on that one. The second one, it didn't work out like we thought it would, but she created something out of it," Kennedy said. "To knock three straight free throws down in a row…we play clutch free throws all the time in practice and she hits those. We were confident about it."
 
Kilty's two fourth-quarter triples came as part of a season-high four for the freshman, who led all Vikings with 16 points Sunday. Kilty scored 13 of her 16 points in the second half, when she was 5-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range.
 
"Jenna started out Thursday night hot but then didn't really get much. And then here in the fourth quarter, she showed up big time. A couple of big clutch shots and that's what we need. That's what we expect from her. She's got it in her," Kennedy said of Kilty.
 
Fifth-year senior Tatiana Streun also carried a heavy load for the Vikings, as she finished with 14 points to go with eight rebounds and three steals. Streun played her best in the third quarter, scoring eight of her 14 points to go with four rebounds in the period.
 
The Vikings fed Streun through the first three quarters of Sunday's game as play centered a lot more around the paint early on. Three days after both teams shot over 50 percent from the outside while hitting at least 10 triples, they were a combined 3-of-15 from deep in the first half. NAU, which had gone 11-of-14 (.786) from three-point range Thursday didn't hit its first three-pointer until the 4:43 mark of the second quarter.
 
Both teams picked things up in the fourth, however, as the Vikings went 4-of-9 in the quarter from the outside while the Lumberjacks went 2-of-2.
 
"I thought we took control. The other night, I thought they had control pretty much the entire night until the end. I thought we had control, especially after halftime. Third quarter we controlled it. Two minutes into the fourth quarter, we controlled it," Kennedy said.
 
Besides Kilty and Streun, Lewis finished with nine points, while Hansen and Jimenez stuffed the stat sheet while chipping in seven and five points, respectively. Hansen added six rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks to her seven points, while Jimenez recorded seven assists and three steals to go with her five.
 
The Vikings will now turn their attention to the Idaho Vandals, who they'll face in a home-and-home series next weekend. The Vikings had been scheduled to host Northwest University at home Monday, but that game has been canceled due to winter weather making for unsafe travel conditions. The Vandals host the first of the home-and-home series next weekend as the teams tip at 6 p.m. Thursday in Moscow, Idaho. The Vikings will then host the Vandals at 12 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20, at Viking Pavilion.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 30-23 all-time against the Lumberjacks following Sunday's win…The Vikings stretched their win streak over the Lumberjacks to 12 games…Jimenez took sole possession of third place all-time in career steals with her three Sunday, breaking a tie with another PSU Hall of Famer in Kelsey Kahle…Jimenez now has 255 career steals.