MOSCOW, Idaho — It appeared early in Monday's game against Idaho that the Portland State women's basketball team had picked up where it left off Saturday, when it played league-leading Idaho State to a three-point game. The Vikings led the Vandals, 15-14, after the opening quarter, and were holding Idaho to 28.6 percent (4-of-14) shooting from the floor.
But a cold second quarter bled into the rest of the game, as the Vandals (11-16, 10-8 Big Sky) handily won the final three quarters en route to a 64-39 win at ICCU Arena.
"We let missed shots affect our effort tonight," Portland State head coach
Chelsey Gregg said after the game. "We have to have a short memory because we'll need to be better Wednesday."
That's the unique thing about the Vikings' situation this week, as the Vikings and Vandals turn around two days later and play each other again Wednesday at Viking Pavilion. It's a repeat of the type of schedule the Vikings played last season during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when teams would play each other twice in the same weekend. The Vandals beat the Vikings by 23 points on their home court in their first game against each other last season, only for the Vikings to come back and force overtime when the teams played two days later at Viking Pavilion.
The Vikings (5-21, 0-18 Big Sky) will need to shoot better Wednesday if they hope to see a similar turnaround from game to game this season. The Vikings made five of their first seven shots in the game in building an early 11-8 lead, but then went just 4-of-28 (.143) over the rest of the first half. The worst of that came in the second quarter, when the Vikings scored just four points on 2-of-19 (.105) shooting in the quarter.
The team's three-point shooting, which had been the backbone of the Vikings' offense recently, never materialized Monday night.
Jada Lewis hit a three on the Vikings' opening possession of the game, but the Vikings then missed their next 16 three-pointers over the rest of the game. It was a stark contrast to how the Vikings had been playing, as they were averaging 9.25 three-pointers made per game over their previous four games.
Defense helped keep the Vikings in it initially, as they held the Vandals to just 14-of-45 (.311) from the field through the first three quarters Monday. Additionally, eight of the Vikings' 19 points in the first half came off of nine Idaho turnovers. The nine turnovers marked a win for the Vikings, as the Vandals came into the game ranked 20th in the nation while giving up only 12.7 turnovers per game. The Vandals returned to form in the second half, however, as they committed only three turnovers after halftime to finish with 12 for the game.
The Vikings' defense also held Idaho's Beyonce Bea scoreless through the first 25 minutes of the game. But Bea still contributed with nine rebounds and three assists in the first half and closed with a big fourth quarter in which she scored nine of the Vandals' 25 points in the final period.
As almost a reverse of Bea,
Esmeralda Morales scored eight of her team-high 10 points in the first quarter.
Rhema Ogele also had four of her eight points in the opening 10 minutes.
Jada Lewis had four of her seven points in the second half, while
Mia 'Uhila scored all five of her points after halftime.
Wednesday marks a chance for the Vikings to start over against the Vandals after Monday's game got away from them. It'll be exactly 48 hours between games as the Vikings and Vandals tip off at 6 p.m. again Wednesday at Viking Pavilion.
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 14-31 all-time against the Vandals following Monday's loss…Monday night's game was a make-up game for a game that was originally scheduled for Jan. 1 but had been re-scheduled three different times…Monday was the Vikings' sixth game in the past 12 days.
