BOZEMAN, Mont. — Through 25 minutes, the Portland State women's basketball game delayed the party for Montana State Thursday at Worthington Arena.
 
The Vikings closed to within three points at 40-37 in the third quarter and had the ball coming out of a timeout with five minutes remaining. But the Bobcats got a steal and converted a three-point play out of the break, and the floodgates opened from there. A 15-0 MSU run bridged the third and fourth quarters as the Bobcats cruised to a 78-49 victory over the Vikings to clinch at least a share of the Big Sky Conference regular-season title.
 
"We did a great job turning them over in the first half and stepping up in the moment," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said after the game. "The third quarter, we got away from what got us to that point. We turned it over and weren't able to get the stops we needed."
 
The Vikings (4-21, 1-15 Big Sky) made the MSU fans sweat early on. Joy Haltom hit her first three three-point attempts while leading the Vikings to an early 16-8 lead over the Bobcats (26-2, 16-0 Big Sky). They still led 19-15 when Laynee Torres-Kahapea banked in a three-pointer with 8:25 remaining in the second quarter.
 
The Vikings were shooting 7-of-12 (.583) from the field at that point and 4-of-6 (.667) from three-point range.
 
Eleven of the Vikings' first 16 points came off MSU turnovers, while the Vikings went into halftime winning the turnover battle, 11-to-9. That's no small feat against a Montana State team that entered the week ranked in the top 10 nationally in both turnovers forced per game (24.1) and turnover margin (+9.70).
 
Even with the Bobcats' dominant finish, the Vikings only lost the turnover battle by three, 22-to-19, by the end. That's a marked improvement from the first time the teams faced each other, when the Bobcats won the turnover battle, 23-to-9.
 
The Vikings recorded 14 steals on Montana State's 19 turnovers Thursday, setting a new season high. Torres-Kahapea swiped six of the team's 14 steals, giving her the most steals by a Viking since Esmeralda Morales – also playing in Thursday's game but for the Bobcats – had six against Warner Pacific on Nov. 7, 2022.
 
But the Bobcats still swung the game in their favor behind a defense that held the Vikings to just 9-of-36 (.250) shooting after their hot start. Four of those nine makes came in succession during the Vikings' run in the third quarter to get back within three. Kyleigh Brown hit back-to-back jumpers as part of the run, while Haltom secured a loose ball and then knocked down a free-throw-line jumper to cap it.
 
Haltom finished with 13 points in the game, nearly doubling her previous career high of seven. She added five rebounds to her 13 points, as well as two steals. Her three made three-pointers also marked a new career high.
 
"I'm proud of Joy for stepping up for us. We'll need more of that on Saturday," Gregg said of Haltom.
 
Brown also went into double figures with 10 points. Nobody else scored more than six for the Vikings.
 
The Vikings will now look to challenge another Montana team in the Lady Griz Saturday at 1 p.m. PT / 2 p.m. MT in Missoula, Mont.
 
"Tonight's game should give us confidence that we can play with the top teams. However, you can't afford to take plays off and that's what we did tonight. It takes a whole team effort. We have to have more than one or two players show up at a time," Gregg said ahead of Saturday's game.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 32-45 all-time against the Bobcats after Thursday's loss…The Bobcats out-rebounded the Vikings 39-to-27, which led to a 23-7 advantage in second-chance points…The Bobcats' 49 points in the second half tied the most points the Vikings have given up in a half this season…Cici Ellington set a new season high with three steals in the game.
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