PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland State women's basketball team found its knockout punch.
 
Unlucky to lose two fourth quarter leads in their first three Big Sky Conference games, the Vikings (4-9, 1-3 Big Sky) finished the job against Northern Colorado Thursday, beating the Bears 58-52 in front of their home crowd at Viking Pavilion.
 
The Vikings never relinquished the lead in the second half, and held the Bears (8-8, 1-4 Big Sky) scoreless on three different possessions within the final minute.
 
"Really proud of the fight and the resiliency," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said of her team. "We could have been beaten down after being so close two out of three times, but for them to come back and have the confidence and belief in each other and themselves to play like that, I think that says a lot about our program."
 
Turnovers had been the Vikings' Achilles heel during their late losses. In their last game against Idaho, the Vikings committed nine of their 18 turnovers in the fourth quarter, which Idaho turned into a 14-0 advantage in points off turnovers within the final period. But not Thursday. The Vikings committed only two turnovers in the fourth quarter while forcing the Bears into five of their own.
 
The Vikings finished with their second-lowest turnover total of the season with 11, an impressive showing against a Bear defense that came into the game ranked second in the Big Sky with 21.3 turnovers forced per game.
 
The efficiency bled into other areas for the Vikings Thursday. They out-rebounded Northern Colorado, 35-to-28, despite the Bears coming into the game ranked third in the Big Sky in rebounding margin. They also recorded a season-high 17 assists on their 25 field goals, while shooting 43.9 percent from the field. The majority of the assists came on shots near the basket, as the Vikings made 61.8 percent (21-of-34) of their two-point field goals Thursday.
 
"We got some great minutes from everybody who came into the game. That's something that hasn't always been the case, even in some of our other wins. Just a great team win," Gregg said.
 
The paint was supposed to be the Bears' territory. They were the ones who came in with two post players averaging in double figures between Tatum West (10.9 points per game entering Thursday) and Aniah Hall (10.1 ppg).
 
But no one told that to Viking post players Rhema Ogele and Lana Wenger. Those two combined for 27 of the Vikings' 58 points as well as 17 of the team's 35 rebounds. Ogele led the Vikings with 14 points and 10 rebounds, recording her third double-double of the season while also finishing 7-of-9 from the field. Wenger followed with 13 points and seven rebounds while finishing 6-of-11 from the field.
 
Ogele and Wenger played a big role early for the Vikings. They combined for 10 of the team's 14 points in the first quarter. That helped counter an unusually hot Northern Colorado team from three-point range. The Bears came into the game averaging only 4.9 three-pointers per game and yet made six of their first eight three-pointers against the Vikings. The last of those makes gave the Bears a 26-21 lead with 6:02 remaining in the second quarter.
 
But they'd quiet from there, making just one of their final 13 three-pointers, while the Vikings seized control with a 17-2 run to end the first half.
 
The Vikings scored 10 straight points behind two buckets from Ogele and a pair of three-pointers from Wenger and Alaya Fitzgerald. The Vikings then answered a Northern Colorado basket with seven straight points to end the half.
 
A 7-0 run for the Bears early in the third quarter made it a game again, but the Vikings never allowed them to retake the lead. They got back within a single possession three different times but never closer.
 
Gabi Fields got the Bears as close as they'd come in the second half with a running jumper that cut it to a two-point game at 54-52 with 1:04 remaining. But Fitzgerald had the answer for the Vikings, willing herself to the bucket for a layup as the shot clock expired. That put the Vikings back up two possessions with just over 30 seconds remaining, and the Bears never got a quality look after that.
 
Fitzgerald scored eight of her 13 points in the fourth quarter, overcoming a cold start from the field to make an impact late.
 
Kyleigh Brown nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine assists, setting a new career high with her assists. Laynee Torres-Kahapea added five assists herself to go with three points and two rebounds.
 
"The one-more pass tonight was really evident," Gregg said of her team's high assist number. "We're continuing to build that trust and that chemistry. If we're where we're supposed to be, we're going to find each other."
 
Joy Haltom, Jamia Carter and Cici Ellington gave the Vikings strong minutes off the bench.  Ellington, a former OSAA 6A State Co-Player of the Year, played a season-high 18 minutes as she works her way back from an injury.
 
"Now we have the experience of finishing. We know what that feels like. It wasn't like, 'oh man, we just held on.' I felt like we were really confident in that finish. And so now we've done it," Gregg said of what the win can do for the Vikings moving forward. "We talked about doing the little things and winning the little battles along the way. I thought we did that well tonight."
 
The Vikings got one under their belts. They finished the job. The next job comes Saturday with a 2 p.m. tipoff against Northern Arizona.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings improved to 12-25 all-time against the Bears with Thursday's win…The Portland State athletic department collected essential supplies for those impacted by the Los Angeles fires as part of a nationwide collection campaign alongside other women's sports organizations…Only one of the eight Vikings who played Thursday had a negative plus/minus…The Vikings have shot better than 40 percent in three of their four Big Sky games, something they only did in three of nine non-conference games.
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