MISSOULA, Mont. — The Portland State women's basketball team played its two best first quarters all season this weekend in Montana. But for the second straight game, it wasn't enough as Montana came back to beat the Vikings 74-61 Saturday afternoon at Dahlberg Arena.
 
The Vikings (4-22, 1-16 Big Sky) jumped out to a 15-3 lead against the Lady Griz (12-16, 8-9 Big Sky). Laynee Torres-Kahapea hit a 30-foot three-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer to give the Vikings a 23-10 lead after the opening 10 minutes. At that point, the Vikings were shooting 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from the field while holding Montana to just 22.2 percent (4-of-18) on the other end.
 
But the Lady Griz found their footing from there. They took their first lead at the 4:54 mark of the third quarter, then broke open a 51-all tie early in the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good.
 
The comeback mirrored Thursday's result for the Vikings, when they jumped out to a 16-8 lead over Montana State, only to end up losing 78-49.
 
"We need to stay confident when opposing teams make runs," Portland State head coach Chelsey Gregg said after the game. "If we take care of the ball and continue to be aggressive and get to the free-throw line, we'll manage their runs better."
 
The Vikings still ended up outshooting the Lady Griz .433-to-.383 Saturday. They controlled the paint throughout, outscoring Montana 36-20 in the area closest to the basket.
 
Rhema Ogele led that effort, recording her sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds to go with four steals.
 
Freshman Kyleigh Brown led all scorers with 19 points for the Vikings, setting a new career high while adding four rebounds and four assists.
 
Those two tried to help keep the Vikings in front once the Lady Griz came back. Ogele answered Montana's first lead with a post-up and spin move to make it 45-44. She then answered a Montana three with another bucket in the paint to tie it at 47-all. Brown followed with an elbow jumper to give the Vikings the lead back at 49-47.
 
Brown scored on the Vikings' opening possession of the fourth quarter, working herself free for a mid-range jumper that tied it at 51-all. Montana scored the next nine to take the lead. Torres-Kahapea converted a circus three-point play to snap the run, while Ogele scored on the Vikings' next possession to cut the deficit to four with 5:14 remaining in the fourth quarter. But the Lady Griz answered with a 10-3 run that put them up by 11 with just over a minute remaining.
 
Torres-Kahapea joined Brown and Ogele in double figures with 11 points. Eight of her 11 points came in the opening quarter. Lana Wenger similarly scored all nine of her points in the opening half when she was 3-of-4 from three-point range.
 
Wenger's three-pointer with 2:17 remaining in the first half put the Vikings at 5-of-10 from three-point range to that point. But they'd make just one of their last 12 from distance after that.
 
The Lady Griz used a sizable advantage from the free-throw line in making up their early deficit against the Vikings. They went 15-of-18 (.833) from the line Saturday while the Vikings were just 3-of-3 (1.000).
 
The Vikings head to Sacramento for their regular-season finale Monday night (6:30 p.m. tipoff) against Sacramento State. The Hornets will be coming off an upset victory over Montana State, as the Hornets handed the Bobcats their first conference loss of the season, 73-69.
 
Game Notes: The Vikings fell to 22-58 all-time against Montana following Saturday's loss…Montana outscored the Vikings 40-22 in the second half Saturday…Conference opponents have now outscored the Vikings 639-462 in the second half of games this season, an average of 10.4 points per game.
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