PORTLAND, Ore. — For the second time this season, the Portland State women's basketball team came within four points of knocking off one of the Big Sky Conference's top teams, as the Vikings fell 66-62 to Idaho Thursday at Viking Pavilion.
 
The narrow loss to the Vandals (16-6, 8-3 Big Sky) mirrored an earlier 60-56 loss to the same Idaho team in a game that the Vikings (4-15, 1-9 Big Sky) led for nearly 30 minutes on Jan. 11.
 
Thursday night, the Vikings nearly pulled off the same comeback that the Vandals did to them the last time around. The Vikings cut the deficit to a single possession three different times in the fourth quarter. They had the ball down two with 1:19 remaining but missed a layup that would have tied it. Idaho's Anja Bukvic then hit a three-pointer on the Vandals' next possession to stretch their lead to five.
 
Kyleigh Brown got the Vikings back within a single possession with a three-pointer – one of a career-high three on the night for her – with 27.6 seconds remaining that made it 62-59. But the Vandals made their free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
 
"The takeaway has to be that when we play well and hard for each other, good things happen," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said after the game. "Tonight, we had one or two possessions where, 'ah, we missed a rotation.' Or, 'ah, we missed an offensive rebound.' Or we had a great look and didn't hit it. But across the board, we had a lot more consistency. I'm proud of our effort."
 
Gregg sometimes shies away from moral victories when they don't also come in actual victories, but the Vikings earned several against the Vandals. For one, the Vikings out-scored the Vandals 16-9 on second-chance points. That was a category the Vandals dominated in their first meeting against each on Jan. 11, outscoring the Vikings 16-2. The Vandals owned the offensive glass in that previous game (21-to-4), but Thursday night, the Vikings battled to a 16-16 draw. The 16 offensive rebounds for the Vikings are their second-best total of the season, trailing only the 18 offensive rebounds they grabbed at Portland on Dec. 13.
 
Additionally, the Vikings tied their season low with eight turnovers against the Vandals. The last time they played Idaho, the Vikings committed nine turnovers in the fourth quarter alone – more than they had in the entire game Thursday – which fueled the Vandals' comeback.
 
Laynee Torres-Kahapea led the strong ball control from the Vikings with a career-best performance Thursday. She set a career high with 15 points while tying her career high with five assists while committing zero turnovers.
 
"Just really proud of Laynee. I thought that was an outstanding performance and the performance that we needed. Not just her scoring but the way she carried herself," Gregg said of Torres-Kahapea.
 
Torres-Kahapea and freshman Kyleigh Brown fueled an 8-0 run that got the Vikings back in the game in the second quarter. Trailing 30-22, the Vikings worked the ball around to Brown who hit the first of her three three-pointers in the game off an assist from Torres-Kahapea. Torres-Kahapea followed with a tough bucket through contact. Joy Haltom then stole the ball on the Vandals' next possession and found Brown in the same spot she hit her first triple as she knocked down another. That tied the game at 30-30 with 3:26 remaining in the half.
 
Both teams went cold from there as Idaho only scored once the rest of the way while the Vikings went scoreless. The Vikings' inability to extend runs kept them chasing the Vandals Thursday. While they improved on the glass and in the turnover battle, Idaho outshot the Vikings .426-to-.369. That consistency from their offense proved the difference.
 
"You extend your runs like we did against Northern Colorado [on Jan. 16] and you see what happens. And so, we have to continue to match those runs a little bit better, where we did so many good things, but a couple of times we allowed a four-point deficit to get to six or eight instead of making our own run. We can't do that," Gregg said.
 
That proved true in the fourth quarter. Down nine with 9:03 remaining, the Vikings responded with a 7-0 run that included a three-pointer from Torres-Kahapea and a second-chance bucket from Haltom. But the Vikings would miss their next five shots from the field as Idaho pushed their lead back out to seven at 58-51. Five straight points from Alaya Fitzgerald got the Vikings back within two at 58-56, but that's when the Vikings missed the layup and Bukvic made them pay with a three-pointer on the other end.
 
Brown tied Bukvic for the game high with 17 points while adding four rebounds and an assist. Fitzgerald shook off a tough shooting night to still contribute 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals. Starting post players Lana Wenger and Rhema Ogele led the effort on the glass with eight and seven rebounds, respectively.
 
The Vikings get another chance Saturday when Eastern Washington comes to Viking Pavilion for a 2 p.m. tipoff. The Eagles had been winless on the road until breaking through with a 68-53 win over Sacramento State Thursday.
 
They'll get no congratulations from the Vikings, though, who want a breakthrough of their own.
 
"We talk about with the team, 'don't get tired of doing the right thing.' If we continue to focus on the elusive W, then it's going to be wearisome at times. But if you focus on all the good that we're doing and continue to get better in the process – and continue to remain coachable and put in the work – then we'll get there. The breakthrough will come," Gregg said.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 15-38 all-time against the Vandals…With Fitzgerald's 14 points Thursday, she needs only seven more to reach 1,000 in her Portland State career…Ogele's seven rebounds Thursday leave her 12 from entering the career top 10 at Portland State…The Vikings set a season high with six blocks as a team, with Wenger tying her season high with three individually.
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