PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland women’s basketball team took advantage of 29 Montana State turnovers, including eight in the fourth quarter, to rally from a 14-point third quarter deficit en route to a 73-64 victory over the Bobcats on Saturday night in the Chiles Center.
Montana State (3-4) jumped out to an early 12-5 lead in the opening quarter, before Portland (5-4) closed out the frame on a 7-0 run.
Leading 19-16 in the second stanza, the Bobcats rattled off a 14-1 run with four minutes left to take a 33-17 advantage following a Madison Hall layup. MSU, which outscored the Pilots 24-15 in the period, held a nine-point cushion at intermission after shooting 58.8% (10 of 17) from the field.
“We executed the game plan and moved the ball well in the first half,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “It was our first game playing shorthanded and I thought we did a nice job setting the pace in the early going.”
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It was MSU’s first game without leading scorer and rebounder Lexi Deden, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on Nov. 24.
MSU maintained a double-digit lead for most of the third quarter as a pair of Marah Dykstra free throws with two minutes, 46 seconds left gave the Bobcats a 55-41 lead. Portland dialed up its full court pressure going and went on a 14-1 run to close out the period. MSU held a 56-55 advantage with 10 minutes remaining.
“Portland picked up the pressure and we didn’t respond,” Binford said. “They put us in a lot of difficult positions, and we lost our composure.”
The Pilots took their first lead of the second half, 57-56, on a pair of free throws by Emme Shearer at the 8:35 mark and a 3-pointer by Dyani Ananiev with 6:37 left gave Portland a 63-60 advantage. The Pilots went on a 13-4 run to close out the contest.
“We need to get our end of quarters solved,” Binford said. “We need to turn the page and get back on track. There’s a lot of fight in this group and they’ll get back to work tomorrow.”
MSU was led in scoring by Taylor Janssen with 16 points in her first start this season. The senior from Rosemount, Minnesota, connected on 3 of 4 shots from long distance.
Katelynn Limardo scored 13 points, and Issy Bunyan added 10. Limardo posted a double-double, guiding MSU with a team-high 10 rebounds.
Ananiev led Portland with 18 points, including four 3-pointers.
MSU plays at Washington on Tuesday night.