PORTLAND, Ore. — March wins count for double.
 
They don't, of course. But when the goal of every college basketball team is to play your best in March, a win sure feels like it counts for double.
 
The Portland State women's basketball team knows that feeling after picking up its third win out of its last four home games Saturday, beating Sacramento State 57-51 at Viking Pavilion. Saturday's win followed earlier triumphs over Idaho State (59-53 on Feb. 10) and Montana State (60-55 on Feb. 22), giving the Vikings (8-21, 3-14) momentum heading into their regular-season finale at Idaho Monday, and then the Big Sky tournament, March 9-13, after that.
 
"Great win. It's one of the most complete games that we've put together in a while," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said after the game. "We did what we needed to do today to get the W. I was really proud of our team for switching up our defense today. We've been trying to do that, but it hasn't always been effective, and today, they locked in and got it done."
 
The Hornets (5-23, 4-13) had been the flavor of the month within the Big Sky Conference in February, having won four of five games at one point – a stretch that started with a 72-65 win over the Vikings in Sacramento on Feb. 3. The Hornets pulled away from the Vikings in that one, as it was a close game until the Hornets held the Vikings to just 4-of-15 (.267) shooting in the fourth quarter.
 
Saturday, however, it was almost the exact opposite. Leading by two entering the fourth quarter, the Vikings held the Hornets to just 4-of-21 (.190) from the field the rest of the way while never relinquishing the lead in the final period.
 
The Vikings led for 32 of the 40 minutes Saturday, and only ever trailed by as many as two points.
 
A stout defensive effort helped keep the Vikings in front. The Hornets shot just 33.3 percent (20-of-60) from the floor Saturday, a conference season low for a Viking opponent.
 
"We locked down a little bit better defensively in the second half," Gregg said of the team's defense, which held the Hornets to just 24.2 percent shooting (8-of-33) in the second half. "We made it possession basketball and didn't allow them to go on any big runs and just finished it."
 
The strong defense was huge in the second half, when the Vikings weathered scoring droughts of more than five minutes in the third quarter, and then more than three and a half minutes in the fourth.
 
The Vikings snapped both droughts with a three-pointer. In the third quarter, Alaya Fitzgerald answered an 8-0 run for the Hornets with a three-pointer that put the Vikings back in front, 39-38. Then, after the Hornets had gotten back within one at 47-46 in the fourth quarter, Lana Wenger snapped another cold spell for the Vikings with a corner triple.
 
In between those, Esmeralda Morales hit two momentum swinging three-pointers. The first came in the final seconds of the third quarter to put the Vikings back in front, 44-42. The second came on the opening possession of the fourth quarter to give the Vikings a 47-42 advantage.
 
Morales connected on another triple midway through the fourth quarter, tying the Vikings' largest lead of the game at 53-46 with 4:56 remaining.
 
The Vikings finished the game 9-of-22 (.409) from three-point range, continuing a trend that has been key to their recent turnaround. The Vikings shot just 24.5 percent from three-point range during their 15-game losing streak over the middle of the season, but are shooting better than 40 percent while averaging 8.67 makes per game over their last six games.
 
Sacramento State only mustered 4-of-18 (.222) from three-point range themselves, though one of those answered Morales' last triple to make it a four-point game at 53-49. The Hornets then cut it to a two-point game at 53-51 on a second-chance layup for Summah Hanson with 3:33 remaining. But that was it as the Vikings held them scoreless over the final three and a half minutes to close out the victory.
 
Rhema Ogele doubled the Vikings lead at 55-51 with 2:19 remaining, combining with Mia 'Uhila on a picture-perfect pick-and-roll. Morales then added two free throws with 15 seconds remaining to close out the scoring in the game.
 
Morales finished with a game-high 25 points while shooting 9-of-14 (.643) from the field and 5-of-7 (.714) from three-point range. It was Morales' fourth 20-point game in a row, the longest such streak of her career. Additionally, Morales moved past current assistant coach Ashley Bolston and PSU Hall of Famer Eryn Jones on the career scoring list during the game, jumping up to eighth all-time with 1,357 career points.
 
Morales' five three-pointers also left her with 87 for the season, leaving her two away from tying and three away from breaking the single-season program record at Portland State. Michele Hughes set the current record with 89 three-pointers during the 1989-90 season.
 
Outside of Morales, Wenger finished with a career-high 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field to go with five rebounds.
 
Ogele needed just two more points to record her fifth double-double of the season, finishing with eight points and 13 rebounds. Eight of Ogele's 13 rebounds came in the second half.
 
Saturday's game leaves the Vikings and Hornets 1-1 against each other going into a potential rematch in the first round of the Big Sky tournament. As it stands now, the Vikings would face Weber State in the first round instead of the Hornets, but a Weber State win over Montana State Monday, coupled with a Sacramento State loss at Eastern Washington, would change that.
 
And if that's the case, then the Vikings will like the confidence boost they got going into that potential rematch next Saturday.
 
"It's March Madness," Gregg said of entering the conference tournament. "We have to be ready to go. Any team is capable of beating any team. Sac State beat [second-place] NAU at NAU. And so, we definitely have to be prepared to play our best basketball.
 
"But ultimately, [today's win] should give us confidence that if we do what we know we can do – get stops and make shots – then we can play with anybody."
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 34-25 all-time against the Hornets with the win…They snapped a six-game losing streak in the series, beating the Hornets for the first time since Jan. 9, 2021…Morales upped her scoring average to 17.4 points per game, giving her the Big Sky scoring lead by 2.35 points per game entering the regular-season finale Monday…No Viking has ever finished the season leading the Big Sky in scoring…Saturday's game was Senior Day for Paige Winter and Cinco McCartney.
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