MISSOULA, Mont. — The breakthroughs that came to the Portland State women's basketball team at home still need to be found on the road, as the Vikings fell 88-56 to Montana Saturday at Dahlberg Arena.
 
The Lady Griz (10-11, 6-4 Big Sky) couldn't miss in the first half. They shot 16-of-30 (.533) from the field and were 9-of-13 (.692) from three-point range. The Vikings (9-10, 4-5 Big Sky) tried to keep up in the first quarter, as they were 8-of-16 (.500) themselves and 2-of-4 from three-point range. But the bottom fell out in the second quarter as the Lady Griz built a 52-30 halftime lead and didn't look back from there.
 
Saturday's loss follows a 64-52 defeat at the hands of Montana State, the defending Big Sky tournament champions. The Vikings came into the weekend as winners of four of their last five, but three of those four wins came at home.
 
So, the road remains a puzzle for the Vikings to solve.
 
The Lady Griz finished with 13 made three-pointers, setting a new season high for them. The Vikings countered with seven of their own, but the Lady Griz shot better both from the field (.468-to-.345) and from three-point range (.500-to-.292) Saturday.
 
A bright spot for the Vikings came in Jada Lewis finding her stroke again from the outside. Lewis went 4-of-7 from three-point range Saturday, setting a new conference season high after she had struggled from the outside to start Big Sky play. Lewis was just 7-of-35 from three-point range through the Vikings' first seven conference games. She started to break out Thursday, going 3-of-9 from deep, then fully snapped out of her slump against the Lady Griz.
 
Lewis finished with 12 points as one of two Vikings in double figures. Esmeralda Morales was the other, as she scored a team-high 18 points. The normally efficient Morales was held to 6-of-19 shooting overall and 2-of-8 from three-point range, however.
 
No other Viking scored more than five points besides Morales and Lewis.
 
Saturday's game wraps up the first half of the Big Sky schedule for the Vikings. The second half starts next week as the Vikings continue their four-game road trip at Idaho and Eastern Washington. The trip begins at Idaho Thursday at 6 p.m.
 
It's there that the Vikings will next try to solve the road problem.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 21-54 all time against Montana with Saturday's loss…Rhema Ogele led the Vikings with seven rebounds in the game, five of which came on the offensive end…The Vikings actually outscored the Lady Griz in the paint, 22-20.