Late rally gives Portland State a 66-61 basketball win over Aggie women

Tova Sabel has double-double as Aggies fall to 3-4 on the year

PORTLAND ... UC Davis saw an 11-point third-quarter lead melt away down the stretch in a 66-61 loss to Portland State in a non-conference women's basketball game Saturday afternoon at Viking Pavilion.

The game was the final tuneup for the Aggies before beginning Big West Conference play Thursday at Cal Poly.

UCD is now 3-4 on the season, while the Vikings are 3-2.

The lead switched hands several times in the opening half, with the Aggies leading 17-12 at the end of the first quarter and the Vikings leading 30-27 at intermission.

UC Davis caught fire, however, in the third quarter, hitting 61.5 percent of its field goal attempts to open a 49-38 advantage and looked ready to run away from their hosts.

The Aggies went ice cold, however, in the final quarter, hitting just 27.8 percent from the floor as the Vikings rallied in front of their home crowd of 373.

The Aggies still led, 61-59, on a 3-pointer from Mazatlan Harris with 1:25 to play, but the Vikings scored the game's final seven points to take the win.

Megan Norris drives against Portland State (Photo by Scott Larsen of PSU Athletics)

Tova Sabel led the Aggies with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Megan Norris had 14 points, six rebounds and three blocks, with Harris adding eight points to go with nine rebounds.

Portland State shot a blistering 69.2 percent from the floor in the final period to secure the win.

After Thursday's date at Cal Poly, the Aggie women will continue Big West play Saturday at UC Santa Barbara, returning home Dec. 15 for a 2 p.m. non-conference battle with Arizona State.

UCD was picked to finish third in conference in the preseason Big West coaches poll, behind Hawaii and UC Irvine.

Cal Poly was picked fifth and UCSB seventh.

Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com