CEDAR CITY, Utah - Dec. 31 - Southern Utah women's basketball overcame a 20-point halftime deficit and took a 71-70 lead with nine seconds remaining, but it was Portland State's Claire Faucher's shot only seconds later that sealed the 72-71 victory for the Vikings on Monday afternoon. SUU's Anne Westwood poured in a career-high 25 points as the Thunderbirds dropped to 2-10 on the season while PSU improved to 10-3.

Aubrey Mackintosh and Caitlyn Sears also poured in career-highs in points as each collected 16 and 15, respectively as Southern Utah outscored Portland State 49-30 over the final 20 minutes of the game. SUU's Erin Heuett narrowly missed a shot as the final whistled sounded that would have given the Thunderbirds the win following the tremendous effort.

"I think our attitude totally changed after the half," head coach Steve Hodson said after the game. "Our girls got a whole lot tougher and you could see that the game meant more to them than it did in the first half. It had a great effect on our intensity, focus and execution."

In the first half, Portland State slowly built a double-digit lead midway through the stanza with a 27-16 advantage with 11 minutes remaining. That lead continued to grow down the stretch as the Vikings finished the half on a 13-4 run for a 42-22 margin at the break.

The second half proved to be entirely different as Southern Utah stormed to an 18-7 run over the first five minutes, trimming the deficit to single digits (49-40) for the first time since the 12-minute mark in the first half. The run continued as Kaila Goff, Westwood and Mackintosh converted baskets to bring the Thunderbirds to within four (51-47) with 12 minutes remaining.

The teams continued to volley back and forth with the lead staying around six points until a 6-0 run in the span of a ninety seconds tied the game (66-66) with three minutes left for the first time in the contest. Portland State countered with a bucket and a free throw by Courtney Cremer and another free throw by Kelly Marchant. Mackintosh's 3-point field goal with 1:43 on the clock trimmed the lead to one (70-69) and another bucket by the sophomore with 15 seconds on the clock game the Thunderbirds their first lead of the game (71-70).

However, Faucher's shot with nine seconds on the clock stole the win from Southern Utah in the 72-71 defeat.

SUU shot a blistering 62.5 percent (20-of-32) in the second half and recorded 14 assists to only 5 turnovers. Heuett's seven assists on the afternoon turned out to be a new career-high for the senior.

Delaney Conway led all Viking scorers with 17 points, followed by Lexi Bishop's 10. PSU's leading scoring threat, Kelsey Kahle, was held to just nine points, but collected a team-high eight rebounds.

The Thunderbirds will be back on the hardwood of the Centrum Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 2 when Southern Utah hosts the Aggies of Utah State. Tip-off for the in-state clash is scheduled from 7:00 p.m.