PORTLAND, Ore. — For the first 33 minutes of Saturday's game against Northern Arizona, the Portland State women's basketball pushed one of the preseason Big Sky favorites with the chance to win its second game in a row.
 
Alaya Fitzgerald hit the second of two free throws to draw the Vikings (4-10, 1-4 Big Sky) within four at 51-47 with just over seven minutes remaining. But things changed from there as the Lumberjacks (14-5, 5-1 Big Sky) used a 20-2 run over the next five minutes to put the game away.
 
The Lumberjacks got to the free throw line during the run. Eight of the team's 20 points during their fourth-quarter burst came from free throws. They had only attempted eight free throws to that point in the game but attempted 11 over their 20-2 run.
 
"I thought the effort was there," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said of her team. "Playing them even in the third quarter, that was a point of emphasis for us. Thursday, we scored six points and today it was 19. I think there are a lot of positives.
 
"We'll still continue to look for that complete game. That'll be our focus in practice next week, putting together a complete game."
 
NAU's late run masked what had been another strong defensive performance from the Vikings. The Lumberjacks came into the game as the Big Sky Conference's top offense, scoring over 80 points per game. And yet through 33 minutes, the Vikings held them to 51 points.
 
The Vikings limited the Lumberjacks' three-point shooting. That's another offensive category that the Lumberjacks lead the conference in, averaging 8.4 makes per game coming into Saturday. But at the end of the third quarter, the Lumberjacks were shooting just 13.6 percent from deep as they were 3-of-22 from three-point range. Four makes in the fourth quarter helped spark the Lumberjacks' finishing run, but the Vikings still held them to just 25.0 percent (7-of-28) shooting from distance.
 
Where the Vikings will lament a missed opportunity Saturday will be in the rebounding battle. The Lumberjacks out-rebounded the Vikings 47-to-34, including a 23-to-13 advantage on the offensive glass. The 23 offensive rebounds were a season high for a Viking opponent, and they led to a 18-6 advantage in second-chance points for the Lumberjacks.
 
NAU's Sophie Glancey led that effort, grabbing five offensive rebounds while finishing with a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds.
 
Even still, the Vikings were right there with the Lumberjacks through three-plus quarters Saturday.
 
The Lumberjacks didn't lead by double figures until the third quarter, and even then the Vikings answered with a 9-2 run to get back within three. Fitzgerald had five points during the run, while Cici Ellington and Rhema Ogele traded off feeding the other for the other two baskets.
 
"I don't ever want our team to lose that or our staff to lose that," Gregg said of the team's fight. "I think that's what makes winning teams is you want to keep getting better and want that. We didn't go away, and that's a really good team [in NAU]."
 
Ellington opened the fourth quarter with a bucket that got the Vikings back within three at 48-45 with 8:56 remaining. The Lumberjacks answered with a three before Fitzgerald went to the line on back-to-back possessions, making 1-of-2 each time.
 
That'd be it before the Lumberjacks' big run, though. The Lumberjacks scored six straight points on free throws at one point during the run, turning what had been a close game into a runaway.
 
Fitzgerald led the Vikings with 15 points while making eight of 10 foul shots herself. Ellington was a difference maker off the bench. She scored a season-high 13 points to go with three rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Ellington, who is still working her way back from an injury that kept her out for the past two seasons, was a big part of the Viking defense, too, that limited the Lumberjacks' potent attack.
 
"She's still finding her spots. As teammates, we're continuing to figure out how to play off each other. But you cannot doubt the competitive fire that she has, and I thought that was on full display today. Whether she's trying to get a block or she's attacking hard at the basket," Gregg said of Ellington.
 
"She's still trying to find her footing, but I'm really proud of the effort and the intensity that she brought today."
 
Opponents can figure to see Ellington more and more in the coming games. The next two to face the Vikings will do so in their home gyms, as the Vikings hit the road for games at Weber State (Thursday, 5 p.m. PT/6 p.m. MT) and Idaho State (Saturday, 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT) next week.
 
Extend the fight over 40 minutes in those games, and the Vikings will give themselves a chance.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings still lead the all-time series between them and the Lumberjacks, 32-28, despite Saturday's loss…The Vikings were cold in the first and fourth quarters, shooting 23.5 percent (4-of-17) from the field in the first quarter and 20.0 percent (3-of-15) in the fourth quarter…Otherwise, the Vikings shot 45.8 percent (11-of-24) from the field combined over the second and third quarters.
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