USAF ACADEMY, Colo. — The Portland State women's basketball team hustled its way to advantages in shooting (.432-to-.406), rebounding (33-to-31) and free throws (16-to-5) over Air Force Tuesday. If not for a big discrepancy from three-point range – the Falcons made eight three-pointers to one for Portland State – the Vikings may have left Clune Arena with a victory.
Instead, the Falcons rode their three-point shooting advantage and a few extra possessions earned from turnovers and offensive rebounds to a 65-55 win over the Vikings.
"Air Force is one of the best teams in the country when it comes to playing hard for 40 minutes. Our challenge to the team was for us to match that," Portland State head coach
Karlie Burris said of her team's game plan.
"We did go down early, and that's something we're going to have to look at, why we're starting slow. Still, I'm proud of the fight. We got some stops and if we had been able to put the ball in the hole and gotten it down to a few possessions, it could have been a different game."
The Vikings (1-3) went into Tuesday night's game knowing they'd have to handle Air Force's pressure defense. The Falcons (3-2) entered the game leading the Mountain West Conference in turnover margin (+8.25) while turning opponents over 21.0 times per game.
The Vikings played into that early on, committing six first-quarter turnovers as the Falcons built an early 20-7 lead. Another three PSU turnovers came as part of a 12-2 run for the Falcons to finish the half as they took a 41-26 advantage into the break.
"We didn't do great in the first half of handling the pressure. I didn't think it was in the backcourt, it was in the frontcourt. We were tentative and that resulted in turnovers. Not being aggressive. Not attacking the rim early on. And then getting late in the shot clock, putting us in a bind and turning the ball over," Burris said.
But the Vikings stabilized themselves in the second half, committing only one more turnover than the Falcons after halftime (7-to-6).
While the Falcons never relinquished their early 20-7 lead, the Vikings also never lost sight of them. Even in the first half, they responded to that 20-7 deficit with an 11-2 run of their own to get back within four with seven minutes remaining in the second quarter. Additionally, the Vikings won the second half, 29-24, as they held The Falcons to just 32.1 percent (9-of-28) shooting after halftime.
Kirstine Munk epitomized the effort from the Vikings Tuesday. The junior forward finished tied with
Hannah Chicken for the team high with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor and 5-of-5 from the free throw line. She added six rebounds (three offensive), two assists and two steals. Every one of those stats represented a new PSU career high for Munk.
"We're going to need Kia on both sides of the ball," Burris said of Munk. "We're going to need her to contribute. We're going to need her to be able to stretch the floor as well as score down low and open up space when she's playing with Ajae [Yoakum] or Katelyn [Best]. We're going to need her to be effective on both sides of the ball. It's great that she was able to get to double figures and have some rebounds for us. We're going to need that in the future."
Munk traded off with Chicken at the four spot in the Vikings' lineup, with each performing well when they were on the court. When Munk was sitting, Chicken poured in 11 points of her own on 5-of-8 shooting to go with a game-high eight rebounds, two assists and a block.
The pair helped establish the Vikings in the paint, where they outscored the Falcons 32-28.
Munk's 5-for-5 shooting from the line also led the Vikings, who shot 16-of-20 (.800) as a team. The Falcons went just 5-for-6 (.833) from the free throw line, which helped make up some of the discrepancy from three-point range.
Besides Munk,
Laynee Torres-Kahapea scored five of her seven points from the line while going 5-for-6 from the charity stripe.
Kyleigh Brown,
Cici Ellington and
Taylor Moffat all hit two foul shots each.
But of course, the Falcons countered with their three-point shooting, going 8-for-20 (.400) from deep compared to just 1-for-7 (.143) from the Vikings. Chicken made the lone three-pointer for the Vikings on the team's first attempt from deep. The Vikings then missed six straight three-pointers to finish the game.
"The three-point discrepancy was huge, obviously. Their eight to our one. It creates a lot more points for them. I thought, unfortunately, the way that Air Force came by that was us just being a little undisciplined, being out of position on the defensive end. Those were shots we didn't want them to take. We have a lot to clean up on the defensive end, just sticking to our principles. However, I do expect us to make more threes. We need to do a better job of playing inside-out and getting our open looks," Burris said of the three-point shooting.
The discrepancy may not have hurt the Vikings as much if the Falcons didn't also earn as many extra possessions as they did. The Falcons shot 20 more field goals than the Vikings (64-to-44) Tuesday, thanks to advantages in turnovers (+9 for Air Force) and offensive rebounds (16-to-11).
Individually, Air Force's Milahnie Perry led all scorers with 20 points. Brown joined Munk and Chicken in double figures for the Vikings with 10 points.
Ajae Yoakum scored six of her eight points in the fourth quarter while going 4-of-6 from the field.
The Vikings will now travel back to Portland for a few midweek practices before heading back out on the road for a game at Utah Tech Saturday at 6 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. MT.
"We did see progress from Colorado [the Vikings' opponent Sunday] to this game. Obviously, I want things to happen a lot faster than they're going, but we'll continue to learn, build and grow," Burris said.
Game Notes:
- The Vikings fell to 0-3 all-time against the Falcons with Tuesday's loss. This was by far the closest game of the bunch, however, as the previous two losses were both by 29 points, including a 69-40 loss in Portland last season.
- Air Force is the first Mountain West Conference team Burris has faced as Portland State head coach. Burris spent four successful years in the Mountain West as an assistant at UNLV, where she helped lead the Lady Rebels to four conference regular-season titles and three tournament titles.
- Brown's 10 points Tuesday marked her 10th straight game in double figures. She ended last season with six straight games in double figures and has scored 10+ points in the first four games this season.
- Chicken has scored in double figures in two straight games, as she also had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting Sunday at Colorado.
