PORTLAND, Ore. — For the second straight week, the Portland State women's basketball team will hope for a strong Thursday to Saturday turnaround, as a slow start cost the Vikings this Thursday in a 73-51 loss to Northern Colorado at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Bears (10-11, 9-7 Big Sky) ran out to a 10-0 lead with just over four minutes gone in the first quarter, as they fed their preseason All-Big Sky forward Alisha Davis on their first four possessions of the game. The Vikings trailed 18-7 at the end of the first quarter, and went down 27-11 midway through the second.
 
The Vikings (9-10, 6-9 Big Sky) got back within 10 at halftime, and made it a seven-point game again when Desirae Hansen snapped a cold spell with her first three-pointer of the game to make it 32-25 early in the third. The Bears immediately answered the Vikings' run with a 13-2 spurt of their own, however, and the Vikings didn't get within single digits the rest of the way.
 
"We can't get down to anyone in our league, 10-0, to start the game and expect that we can fight back. It's a tough way to start. I love the shots we got. We've got to keep executing like that. We're getting wide-open shots, we'll start knocking them down," Portland State head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards.
 
The Vikings will hope that Saturday's rematch against the Bears mirrors the turnaround they showed against Idaho last weekend. The Vikings fell behind early against the Vandals last Thursday, too, and lost 86-63. Saturday marked a completely different game, however, as the Vikings erased an eight-point, fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime.
 
The Vikings eventually fell in the extra period, but the turnaround was exactly what the Vikings will hope for this Saturday.
 
"Teams know we have comebacks in us so we've got to play even better than we did against Idaho last Saturday. But we have a lot of adjustments to make. We'll make those adjustments and we'll be better on Saturday," Kennedy said.
 
Poor shooting cost the Vikings throughout Thursday night. The Vikings went just 2-of-13 (.154) from the field in the first quarter, and finished under 30 percent for the game while going 18-of-61 (.295).
 
Morgan Baird provided a bright spot for the Vikings, going 6-of-8 (.750) from the field while chipping in a career-high 14 points. Baird scored eight of her 14 points in the first half, including back-to-back buckets in the final 90 seconds of the first half that got the Vikings back within 10 at halftime. Baird scored on nearly identical plays, as she took advantage of a smaller defender to turn and pop along the left baseline.
 
The Vikings also started to hit some shots in the second half that they'll hope carries over into Saturday's rematch. Hansen finally seemed to find her shot in the third quarter after going 0-for-10 from the field and 0-for-6 from three-point range in the first half. Hansen hit two triples in the third quarter, when she scored eight of her 10 points against the Bears.
 
Sophomore Jada Lewis, meanwhile, found her stroke in the fourth quarter, going 2-of-3 from deep in the final 10 minutes. Lewis scored eight of her 11 points in the second half, when she also had four rebounds and two assists.
 
Other bright spots for the Vikings came in their pressure defense, as they forced the Bears into committing 20 turnovers while tying the season high they set Monday against Warner Pacific with 15 steals. Senior Kylie Jimenez set an individual season high with six steals, and now has 269 steals in her career. Jimenez needs only three more steals to pass Boise State's Tricia Bader (1991-96) for 10th all-time within the Big Sky Conference. Hansen and freshman Nakia Boston also had three steals each, while Lewis added two thefts for the Vikings.
 
The steals and forced turnovers are both something the Vikings will hope carries over to Saturday's rematch against the Bears. Otherwise, the Vikings will hope for a different-looking game when the teams tip off at 12 p.m. (PT).
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 10-19 all-time against Northern Colorado following Thursday's loss…The Vikings grabbed more offensive rebounds than the Bears, 10-8, but were out-rebounded overall, 43-25…Jimenez needs only four assists to pass Eastern Washington's Chene Cooper (2008-12) for ninth all-time within the Big Sky after leading all players with five assists Thursday.