Portland Uses Strong Fourth Quarter to Rally past Cats

Saturday, December 2

Portland, OR

6 p.m. (MT)

Montana State University

3-4,0-0Big Sky

Portland

5-4,0-0WCC

Montana St.

Portland

Taylor Janssen

Photo by: Bobcat Creative Services

12/2/2023 11:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

“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.”

By: MSU Sports Information

Portland took advantage of twenty-nine 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, who outscored the Pilots 24-15 in the period, held a nine-point cushion at intermission after shooting 58.8% connecting on 10-17 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."

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 responded dialing up its full court pressure going on a 14-1 run to close out the period. MSU held a 56-55 advantage with ten 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 its first lead of the second half at 57-56 on a pair of free throws by Emme Shearer at the 8:35 mark and a three-pointer by Dyani Ananiev with 6:37 left gave Portland a 63-60 advantage en route to going 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, Minn., connected on three-of-four from long distance. Also in double-digits were Katelynn Limardo 13, and Issy Bunyan 10. Limardo posted a double-double guiding MSU with a team-high ten rebounds.

Ananiev led Portland with 18 points, including four 3-pointers.

MSU plays at Washington on Tuesday night.