PORTLAND, Ore. - Portland tallied their first region win last night with a 65-57 decision over Chemeketa inside Cascade Gym.
The Panthers were certainly itching for a win after dropping their first four league encounters and five games overall.
PCC got off to a roaring start, jumping out to a 9-0 lead early in the 1st quarter. The visiting Storm gained their footing however, and managed to cut the lead to 15-11 at the end of 10 minutes.
Though the Panthers led at halftime by five (34-29), it took a late surge to get there. Chemeketa had led 24-19 halfway through the quarter, but six straight from PCC to end the half restored the advantage.
After the break, Portland stretched their lead out to 10 points (44-34) but could not deliver the knockout.  The rest of the game saw the Panthers maintain a small advantage thanks to key baskets that kept Chemeketa at arms length.
The Panthers were without the services of leading scorer Malia Cabigon who sat out with an injury. In her stead, Ashley Aughterson (20), and JaLay Harris-Burns (16) provided the scoring punch. Lhaya Powers provided a nice spark off the bench with five points and two steals.
