PORTLAND, Ore. — If they were watching at home, Viking fans may have seen a play late in the second quarter when the cameras were following Rhema Ogele after she made two free throws. In the background of that shot, they would have seen a flash of humanity, sprinting to pick off the in-bounds pass and dish to a teammate for an easy layup.
 
That flash of humanity was sophomore point guard Esmeralda Morales, and the steal was just one of a career-high six for her as she led a suffocating defense for the Vikings on the opening night of the 2022-23 season.
 
Morales finished with 19 points and seven assists to go with her six steals Monday in the Vikings' 67-40 win over Warner Pacific at Viking Pavilion. The Vikings (1-0) finished with 22 steals as a team, their most in a single game since they also had 22 in a 77-48 win over Idaho on Dec. 20, 2006, nearly 16 years ago.
 
"That shows, for me, that we're being active," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said of the team's steals. "We took them deep into the shot clock with our zone and I really was pleased with that.
 
"I really love how we came out in the first quarter. I liked the intensity. I thought we showed that we were able to switch some things up with our press, which was really effective for a bit. But we definitely can't settle. I thought they did a good job of making us make threes, but we also can't settle, which I thought we did a little bit at times."
 
Morales' seven assists Monday fueled a Viking offense that assisted on 20 of the team's 22 field goals against the Knights. The Vikings assisted on their first 19 field goals in the game until a rebound basket for Marina Canzobre with 3:53 remaining broke the streak.
 
The Vikings likely would have had more assists if not for a dry spell after halftime, but Gregg won't turn her nose up at 20 assists. Last season, 20 assists would have gone down as the team's third-highest total in a game.
 
"A lot of those assists came in transition when we made that extra pass and made the defense shift. That needs to be a trend that we continue. We need to continue to share the basketball, attack and kick, and get out in transition and run. I think that's where we're best," Gregg said of the team's assists.
 
Both the steals and assists led to a 27-to-11 advantage for the Vikings on points off of turnovers, as well as a 16-to-4 advantage in fast-break points. Pair those two things with an offense that made 10 three-pointers to just one for the Knights, and those were the ingredients of a 27-point win for the Vikings on opening night.
 
The Vikings established themselves early in the game. They closed the first quarter on an 11-0 run behind three-pointers from Morales and Jada Lewis, and five points from Cinco McCartney.
 
An 8-0 run in the middle of the second quarter then pushed it to a 20-point lead for the first time at 32-12. Morales hit her fourth of five three-pointers Monday during that run. She hit it from the left wing as the Vikings' student section – nicknamed The Ship – rose up behind her, confident it was going in. The early runs helped fuel an energetic Viking crowd Monday night that sounded a lot louder than its announced total of 438.
 
"I really want to thank everybody for coming out," Gregg said of the crowd. "I thought the energy that they brought, throughout the game but especially the energy that first quarter, really gave us the lift that we needed to continue on that run and push forward. But we felt them throughout the game, and we appreciate that."
 
The Knights got back within 15 points a couple of times later in the second quarter, but that was as close as they'd come. The Vikings' lead hung around 20 points for most of the second half until a late surge saw the Vikings push the final margin to 27 points, which was their largest lead of the night.
 
Besides Morales, Lewis finished with 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. 'Uhila added 10 points to go with four steals and two assists, while McCartney nearly matched 'Uhila's stat line with nine points, four steals and two assists.
 
Defensively, the 40 points the Vikings gave up to Warner Pacific Monday marked the lowest scoring output for a Viking opponent since they held Warner Pacific to only 30 points in a win on Feb. 22, 2021. The Vikings held the Knights to just 16-of-48 shooting (.333) Monday, while Warner Pacific made just one of their 14 attempts from three-point range.
 
"Forty and under, that's great," Gregg said of the team's defense. "That's what we need. We talk about our zone taking away the three-point line and we did that. I would have liked to have a little bit fewer post touches, but if you hold a team to 40, that's pretty good defense."
 
Things only pick up from here for the Vikings as they continue into their 2022-23 season. Saturday, they'll host San Diego – a team that made the second round of the WNIT last season – at Viking Pavilion at 1 p.m.
 
The Vikings will hope to streak into that game faster than Morales streaked across Viking fans' screens on ESPN+ Monday night.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 5-1 all time against Warner Pacific with Monday's win…Morales not only led the team in scoring, assists and steals, she also posted the best plus/minus on the team with a plus-29 Monday…All 13 players that were dressed for the Vikings played in Monday's game, while 10 of the 13 players scored.