PORTLAND, Ore. — For the second straight game, the Portland State women's basketball team made it a one-possession game late in the fourth quarter. And for the second straight game, the Vikings were left with moral victories rather than an actual one, as Eastern Washington beat them 65-58 Saturday at Viking Pavilion.
 
Joy Haltom capped a 9-3 run from the Vikings (4-16, 1-10 Big Sky) with a three-pointer from the left wing that cut the Vikings' deficit to two with 3:02 remaining. The Vikings got the ball back and had another look from three-point range that would have given them the lead, but the shot missed, and the Eagles (9-15, 5-7 Big Sky) responded with an 8-2 run that iced the game.
 
The close loss follows another on Thursday in which the Vikings closed within a single possession three different times in the fourth quarter before Idaho pulled it out, 66-62.
 
"I'm really proud of the effort tonight, especially being short-handed," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said as her team was without four players Saturday. "Nobody's happy about not getting the W, but if we're process-driven and looking at the things we're doing better and people stepping up and playing together, then it makes it more palatable."
 
The Vikings put themselves in position to have a chance late thanks to one of their best third quarters of the season. Third quarters have been a sore spot for the Vikings. Coming into Saturday's game, they had been outscored 184-132 in the third quarters of all 10 previous Big Sky games. But the Vikings reversed course against the Eagles, outscoring them 16-9 in the period to shave what was a 10-point halftime deficit down to three. Cici Ellington scored on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, too, making it a one-point game with nearly the entire fourth quarter remaining.
 
The defense clamped down in the third quarter. After the Eagles shot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) in the first half, the Vikings held them to just 3-of-17 (.176) from the field in the third quarter. The Eagles outscored the Vikings 20-8 in the paint in the first half, but that flipped in the second half as the Vikings outscored the Eagles 14-4 after halftime. Additionally, the Eagles' nine points in the third quarter tied the fewest the Vikings have allowed in any quarter this season.
 
"We've talked about our third quarters being better, and they definitely have been the last two times out," Gregg said. "The players adapted well. We went back to what we know defensively and it worked really well."
 
Rhema Ogele and Alaya Fitzgerald led the way on the other end, scoring 14 of the team's 16 points in the third quarter between them. Ogele scored six straight out of halftime for the Vikings before Fitzgerald got hot and scored eight of the final 10 points in the quarter.
 
Fitzgerald finished with 17 points and three assists in the game in which she reached 1,000 points in her career. Ogele, meanwhile, recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Five of her 11 rebounds came on the offensive end, as the Vikings grabbed 17 as a team for their highest number of offensive rebounds in a Big Sky game this season.
 
"You could really tell that they had some synergy," Gregg said of Ogele and Fitzgerald. "They were playing inside-out, and that's really what we're capable of. Alaya was shot ready and when she has that attack mentality, we are a different team."
 
As a team, the Vikings shot 38.1 percent (8-of-21) from three-point range, with their eight makes just one off their season high. Fitzgerald made 4-of-8 from distance, while Kyleigh Brown converted 2-of-4. Haltom and Laynee Torres-Kahapea added one make each.
 
The Vikings limited the Eagles' three-point shooting on the other end. That had been key in the Eagles' earlier victory over the Vikings on Jan. 9 when they made 11-of-20 (.550) from distance. Saturday, however, the Vikings held them to 5-of-19 (.263) from three-point range.
 
But the Eagles made up the difference by shooting 10 more free throws than the Vikings. The Eagles converted 18-of-22 (.818) from the line while the Vikings went 8-of-12 (.667). That was key in the fourth quarter when the Eagles made 10-of-10, eight of which came in the final minute of the game.
 
"There are some key times where we're making a mistake here or there. We'll have to learn from that. There's not really ever a good time to make them, but there's just been a couple of key times in these close games where our margin of error isn't very large. We'll just continue to try to be better in those key moments," Gregg said.
 
Outside of Ogele and Fitzgerald, Brown finished with 12 points and five rebounds. She scored nine of the Vikings' first 11 points in the game but then deferred to others in the second half. Haltom made an impact in her first start since December, scoring five points to go with five rebounds – four on the offensive end – while tying or setting her career highs for assists (3) and blocks (3).
 
The Vikings hit the road next week, starting with a game at second-place Northern Arizona Thursday at 5 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. MT.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 36-47 all-time against the Eagles with Saturday's loss…Ogele needs only one rebounds to enter the career top 10 at Portland State after her 11 against the Eagles…Fitzgerald hit 1,000-career points with her three-pointer with 2:51 remaining, becoming the 22nd player in program history to reach the milestone…Ogele moved into a tie for seventh all-time with her 10th-career double-double.
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