GREELEY, Colo. — A familiar script haunted the Portland State women's basketball team Thursday, as the Vikings fell 80-60 to Northern Colorado at Bank of Colorado Arena.
The Bears (13-5, 4-1) led 23-7 after the first quarter when they out-rebounded the Vikings 8-to-0 on the offensive glass and forced six PSU turnovers. The offensive rebounds and turnovers meant the Vikings (5-11, 1-3) finished with 13 fewer field goal attempts than the Bears in the opening quarter.
The Bears took advantage of the extra possessions with a strong showing from three-point range. They outshot the Vikings 11-to-0 from three-point range, marking a 33-point difference in the game.
"A ton of familiar struggles and keys to the game that unfortunately we didn't execute," Portland State head coach
Karlie Burris said of the game afterwards. "We prepped for their press, but they smelled blood and turned it up a notch.
"We're looking at our slow starts. Something is going to have to change. Whether that be lineup or schematically, whatever it may be. To me it's a mindset of being focused and playing as hard as you can. Trusting the scouting report and going out and executing it. We have to treat every game the same."
Northern Colorado hit five straight three-pointers between the end of the first quarter and start of the second, stretching their lead behind a 15-1 run that took much of the drama out of the last three quarters of the game. Twenty-four of the Bears' first 37 points came from beyond the arc.
The Vikings never got closer than 15 points over the final three quarters.
The Vikings played well outside of the slow start. They recovered from the initial rebounding discrepancy to out-rebound the Bears 39-to-35 in the game. The Bears came into the game ranked third in the Big Sky Conference with a +5.9 rebounding margin. And yet the Vikings out-rebounded them 33-to-21 after the opening quarter.
Ajae Yoakum tied for a game high with 10 rebounds while adding eight points and three assists.
Cici Ellington,
Taylor Moffat and
Jamia Carter all tied for second on the team with four rebounds each.
"I felt like we played a lot harder in the second half. Credit to the second group that went in and trusted the process and did what was asked. They executed both offensively and defensively, and it showed," Burris said.
Another positive came in how the Vikings shot the ball. The Vikings outshot the Bears .440-to-.412 in the game, the fourth straight game to start Big Sky play in which the Vikings have outshot their opponent.
The Bears made up that difference by shooting 18 more field goals than the Vikings, however.
The Vikings tried to come back from the free-throw line. They shot nine more free throws than the Bears (27-to-18), but they shot just 59.3 percent (16-for-27) from the line.
Carter led the march to the line, going 7-for-13 while scoring a season-high nine points.
Kyleigh Brown and
Hannah Chicken led the Vikings with 10 points each.
Moffat tied her season high with nine points on 3-for-4 shooting from the field.
The Vikings will close out a three-game road trip at Northern Arizona Saturday for a 1 p.m. PT / 2 p.m. MT.
"The message ahead of Saturday's game is we need to compete. We have to give our best effort, play with max effort, and execute the scouting report. The people that buy into that are the ones who are going to play," Burris said.
Game Notes:
- The Vikings fell to 12-28 all-time against the Bears with the loss.
- The Vikings finished minus-12 (24-to-12) in the turnover battle. The Bears outscored them 31-7 in points off turnovers.
- Brown extended her streak of scoring 10+ points to 22 straight games. Chicken has scored in double figures in eight straight games.
- The Vikings are being outscored by 8.4 points per game in the opening quarter of their eight road games this season.
