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PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland State clamped down on defense when it mattered most and rallied late for a 64-62 victory over visiting Portland to keep things in a cheerful mood on monumental night for Viking senior Kelli Valentine.

Valentine grabbed a career-best six steals and also became just the 14th player in Portland State women's basketball history to surpass the 1,000-career point, 500-career rebound barrier when she pulled down rebound number 500 with 11:55 left in the game. Her night was almost spoiled though, until the Vikings charged back down the stretch.

Portland led 32-25 at the break and held a 54-44 advantage with 6:56 left. But it was from there that PSU mounted its comeback, starting with a three-pointer by Eryn Jones.

The Pilots pushed their lead back up to 56-47 on a fastbreak layup by ReZina Teclemariam before PSU scored six straight, getting a free throw from Jones, a three-pointer by Lexi Bishop and a 15-foot jumper from Allie Brock.

With 3:27 remaining, Teclemariam had to hurry up a jumper with the shot clock running down and PSU's Courtney Cremer blocked it. Valentine picked up the loose ball and found a streaking Courtney VanBrocklin for a layin that tied the game at 57-57. The Pilots answered behind a Lauren Angel bucket, but the Viks took their first lead since the opening minutes of the game when Jones drilled a 3-pointer, making it 60-59.

PSU led 64-49 after Jones hit two free throws with 1:04 to go, before Nekaeisha Brown hit a three-pointer for Portland. With 11 seconds remaining, Jones had to rush an inbounds pass and turned the ball over, but the Vikings clamped down defensively and Katy Wade blocked Jessica Clemens' last second shot to secure the victory.

Vikings' Head Coach Sherri Murrell felt her team's seven-day layoff between games led to poor play early on, but she left the court with a victory after her squad responded to her challenge in the waning minutes.

"I was very concerned because I felt like we started out very flat in the game. We were missing assignments and the lack of intensity on the defensive end carried over to the offensive end," said Murrell. "But I'm really proud of them because they had to turn it on. I challenged them to refuse to lose and they made the adjustment with their attitude first and that equated to the win."

PSU's defense was the difference maker in the second period. After allowing the Pilots to connect on exactly half off their shots in the first 20 minutes, the Vikings held Portland to 37.9 percent shooting the rest of the way, including just three field goals over the final 6:05.

Jones led all scorers with 16 and added five assists and three steals, while Bishop went 3 of 4 from behind the arc on her way to a season-high 12 points. VanBrocklin and Valentine added 10 and nine points, respectively.

Portland got 14 points from Tara Cronin, 11 points and seven rebounds from Teclemariam, and 10 points from Angel. 

NOTES: Valentine finished with five rebounds and now has 502 for her career. She also has 1,087 career points ... PSU matched its season-high with 17 steals ... the Vikings forced UP into 24 turnovers ... Bishop played a key role defensively in holding Portland's leading scorer, Natalie Day, to only nine points on 4 of 12 shooting .. Katy Wade added a season-high eight points for Portland State ... the Vikings snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 6-6. Portland fell to 9-4 ... PSU is back in action on Jan. 3 when they host Corban College. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.