Portland State University’s women’s basketball team lost to Northern Arizona University 88-80 in overtime at Viking Pavilion on Thursday night. The Vikings forced the extra period after Cici Ellington and Kyleigh Brown each hit three-pointers in the final seconds of regulation, but were outscored 10-2 by the Lumberjacks in overtime.
Northern Arizona took control early in overtime with three consecutive offensive rebounds on their first possessions. Portland State missed its first seven shots in the extra period and did not score until the closing moments.
The defeat stopped Portland State (6-18, 2-10) from securing back-to-back wins for the first time this season. The team had previously beaten Sacramento State 64-62 last Saturday.
“A really tough loss. This one hurt,” said Portland State head coach Karlie Burris. “My message to the team in the locker room afterwards was that I was really proud of the fight to even send it into overtime. Obviously, they totally out-rebounded us in OT, which hurt. I thought we let Naomi [White, NAU’s leading scorer] get free too many teams. A few miscues.
“But again, the message was that we can compete and we’re right there.”
Late-game efforts kept Portland State close. After trailing 76-72 with under half a minute left, Brown made a three-pointer to bring them within one point. NAU’s Kayla Williams responded with two free throws before Ellington tied it with another three-pointer with six seconds remaining.
Ellington led four Vikings who scored at least 16 points, finishing with 20 points, nine rebounds and two blocks—17 points and nine rebounds coming after halftime due to early foul trouble. She contributed eight of Portland State’s last 11 points in regulation.
“I’ve been liking her energy better recently and we’re just trying to instill some confidence in her. She’s a matchup nightmare. We needed her late. We needed those points [in the fourth quarter], and she rose to the occasion,” Burris said about Ellington.
Laynee Torres-Kahapea added 18 points—14 after halftime—alongside seven rebounds and three assists for Portland State.
“We need Laynee to do that,” Burris said of Torres-Kahapea’s game. “We need her to push pace. I thought she did a really good job of trying to take care of the ball with [NAU’s JBionna] Robinson heckling her the whole game and trying to run our offense. I was proud of her,” Burris said of Torres-Kahapea.
Hannah Chicken recorded her second double-double this season with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds plus three steals and two blocks; Brown scored 18 points while playing all 45 minutes.
On defense, Portland State struggled against NAU’s Naomi White, who led all scorers with 25 points—including four three-pointers—and grabbed eight rebounds. Williams scored 24 for NAU on efficient shooting, while Madison Watts posted a double-double with 13 points and ten rebounds along with six assists.
“It’s hard to win any game, but these games don’t just get handed to you. I thought we could have done a better job of just being the first to the ball and rebounding a little bit more and executing down the stretch. But again, I thought we made strides and gave ourselves an opportunity to win the game,” Burris said.
The Vikings will next play Northern Colorado on Saturday at home at 2 p.m., looking for improvement after losing their previous meeting by twenty points earlier this season.
“We can’t hang on to this one for too long. We’re going to watch the film and see where we can improve and then it’s a whole different monster as it relates to Northern Colorado,” Burris said.
Portland State still leads its all-time series against Northern Arizona by one game despite Thursday’s result (32-31). The loss marked their first defeat this season when scoring over seventy points or when attempting more field goals than their opponent; they are now winless (0-16) when opponents shoot above forty percent from the field.
