PORTLAND, Ore.-- Emily Easom's seventh triple of the afternoon proved to be the winning points in a 73-70 Portland State win over North Dakota Saturday afternoon in Big Sky Conference play. PSU (3-12, 1-3) raced out to a 17-3 lead but had to withstand a second-half UND (10-6, 2-2) surge that saw the visitors gain the lead and tie it on several occasions in the final minutes.

Sophomore Makailah Dyer had a team-high 21 points to go along with a career-high nine rebounds and six assists for UND. Junior Mia Loyd added 20 points and 11 rebounds and senior Emily Evers had 18 points and nine boards.

"This team has got find our identity and it's got to be quick," UND head coach Travis Brewster said. "You have to come into work every day and try to get a little bit better. Two tough road games here and the teams we played, they played well and we made some mistakes and they made us pay. If you want an identity of excellence, you have to figure out a way every day to get a little bit better and that's what we've got to get back to. It'll start on Monday for us."

The home team raced out to a quick 17-3 lead and North Dakota spent a good deal of the ballgame trying to erase the early deficit. A 10-0 UND run got it back to single digits in the first half and the lead was sliced to just six at halftime.

After the break, North Dakota whittled it down to two on a layup by Mia Loyd and a pair of Leah Szabla free throws eventually tied it at 46-all. Loyd later scored on a layup for UND's first lead since the opening minute at 48-46. Lauren Holt immediately answered with a three and after another Loyd jumper, Easom drilled another three, part of her game-high 26 points on the night.

With the Viking lead at four, Dyer tripled to beat the shot clock and later hit another three to make it a three-point game at 62-60. Loyd then scored a bucket to tie it but Mikaela Rivard had back-to-back jumpers to rebuild the home team's lead to four.

Dyer's conventional three-point play made it 68-all with just under two minutes to play to setup the finish. Lariel Powell scored for PSU and Dyer answered with a 15-footer from the right baseline with just under a minute to go. But, on the ensuing Viking possession, Easom sprung free in front of her bench for a three to provide the winning points.

North Dakota completes its three-game road swing with a Saturday contest at Northern Colorado.