PORTLAND, Ore. — Sometimes games have everything but the ending you want.
 
The Portland State women's basketball team saw a tremendous turnaround from Thursday's game against Northern Colorado, shooting the ball better while erasing deficits left and right. The Vikings erased a 10-point deficit in the first half, and came back from nine down to tie it again in the second half. That gave the Vikings a shot to win or tie it, down two, in the final seconds, but the possession got away from them as they couldn't get a shot up at the end.
 
"Our intensity, our energy, our effort was there. Our heart was there, even. Yeah, you look at the last possession and there's a lot you can take away, but if we keep playing with this effort, playing this hard, there's a lot of positives we can take away," Portland State head coach Lynn Kennedy said afterwards.
 
"I can't fault what we did on the offensive end because we got some great looks. Even on the defensive end, forcing 18 turnovers, forcing some tough shots. But yeah, some 50-50 plays went against us."
 
The Vikings (9-11, 6-10 Big Sky) shot 40.4 percent (21-of-52) from the floor Saturday, more than a 10-percent improvement from Thursday when they shot 29.5 percent (18-of-61). Desirae Hansen and Kylie Jimenez each saw strong turnaround individually, as they went a combined 10-of-20 from the floor and 4-of-9 from three-point range after tough outings on Thursday.
 
What's more, the Vikings showed the fighting spirit that had led them to three comeback wins in the final seconds earlier in the month. The Vikings trailed 25-15 with 2:17 left before halftime, but then went on a 12-2 run between the end of the first half and beginning of the second to tie the game again. Hansen hit her second three-pointer of the game to make it 27-27 early in third quarter as she opened what would be a strong second half for her with five quick points for the Vikings.
 
The Bears (11-11, 10-7 Big Sky) went back up 41-32 with 3:52 to go in the third, but the Vikings closed the quarter on a 13-4 run to tie it at 45-45 entering the fourth. Sophomore Jada Lewis scored the final nine points of the quarter for the Vikings, ending with a three-pointer and a floater in the lane as time expired.
 
The Bears always seemed to find their game again once the Vikings would tie it up, however. The Vikings tied the game six different times Saturday, but never took the lead. Three-point shooting always seemed to be the Bears' answer. The Bears broke four of the six ties in the game with a three-pointer, including twice in the fourth quarter.
 
"We just didn't quite take the lead and I think if we had taken the lead, we would have beaten them because that puts a little doubt in their minds. Especially going into the fourth because we played the third so well," Kennedy said.
 
Even still, the Vikings kept coming back. The Bears led 58-53 with 3:18 left before Hansen drew a foul and hit two free throws to bring the Vikings back within a single possession. Northern Colorado's Alisha Davis hit a free throw on the end, while freshman Nakia Boston came back with an aggressive drive and dish to Tatiana Streun for a layup to make it 59-57. Streun then blocked Davis on the Bears' next possession, and Hansen followed with a clutch, pull-up jumper from the elbow that tied it at 59-59.
 
Offensive rebounds killed the Vikings on the Bears' next possession. The Vikings twice forced a miss from Northern Colorado, only to have the Bears get the offensive rebound. The Vikings eventually fouled Northern Colorado's Micayla Isenbart, and Isenbart hit both free throws to give the Bears a 61-59 lead with 28 seconds remaining.
 
The teams then both hit one of two free throws on their next two possessions, giving the Vikings the ball back down 62-60 with 16 seconds left. The in-bounds went to Jimenez, who passed quickly to Hansen. The Bears covered Hansen well, however, and so Hansen gave the ball off to Boston on the right wing. Davis tied up Boston with 0.7 seconds remaining, giving the ball back to the Bears who then ran out the clock.
 
The loss puts a damper on the progress the Vikings made, but the turnaround was still a marked difference from Thursday when the Bears beat the Vikings 73-51.
 
Four different Vikings finished in double figures, led by Hansen who scored 14 of her 17 points in the second half. That marked Hansen's best scoring output in a while, as she hadn't scored more than 12 since the Vikings' game at Montana on Feb. 4. What's more, Hansen shot the ball better than she has for all but one game in February, going 5-of-11 from the field and 2-of-5 from three-point range.
 
Jimenez – who finished with 13 points to go with five assists, three rebounds and a steal – also found her shooting stroke Saturday. Jimenez went 5-of-9 from the field and 2-of-4 from three-point range against the Bears, her best marks since going 9-of-16 against Northern Arizona on Feb. 11.
 
"Good shooters keep shooting and they shoot themselves out of it and I thought they did that today," Kennedy said of Hansen and Jimenez.
 
Streun posted her fifth double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds to go with two steals and a block. Eight of Streun's 14 points came in the second quarter as she helped key the Vikings' first big comeback in the game. Lewis, meanwhile, scored 11 points on 4-of-10 shooting, the bulk of which came in her solo run at the end of the third quarter.
 
The Vikings can back up the turnaround with another solid performance tomorrow, as they step out of conference for a game against Warner Pacific. The Vikings tip off against the Knights at 12 p.m. at Viking Pavilion.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 10-20 all-time against Northern Colorado with Saturday's loss…Freshman Morgan Baird made the first start of her career in the game…Streun went over 600 career rebounds during the game, upping her total to 603…Streun needs nine more rebounds to tie Hiedi Hatcher (1997-01) for ninth all-time at Portland State…Jimenez needs one more steal to enter the career top 10 within the Big Sky Conference, at which point she'll match the former Tricia Bader (271 career steals at Boise State, 1991-96) and current Tricia Binford, who is currently the head coach at Big Sky-rival Montana State.