The Hornets lost to the Montana State Bobcats 73-64 in a game where theBobcats had all the answers and the Hornets had all the questions.

The Hornets had trouble stopping the multi-faceted Montana State offense. Isabel Stubbs scored 19 points on 9 of 12 shots for the Bobcats, most of which were in the paint. The Hornets simply did not have the size or athleticism down low needed to match up with her.

“We worked on denying her the basket throughout practice this week. During the game, we got caught behind her and she got open,” head coach Carolyn Jenkins said about Stubbs. “We also did not put enough pressure on the passer.”

Stubbs was not the only player that the Hornets had to target defensively. Montana State was able to put constant pressure on the Hornets defense throughout the game because they have a number of other scoring options (Jessica Blake-19 points, Serena Merrill- 12 points) that must be accounted.

“They have good balance, and a lot of weapons,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said the Hornets had lots of trouble defensively in this game because the outside shooting was working for Montana State when the Hornets doubled the post.

When Sac State keyed in on the perimeter, the Bobcats went back to what was working for them underneath the basket.

The Hornets stayed close throughout the first half before going into intermission down 32-33. After Michelle St. Clair scored the first basket of the second half, the game changed, in favor of Montana State.

“We hit a dry spell offensively, and did not make enough stops defensively,”Jenkins said.

The Hornets found themselves down by as many as 18 points in the second half as they could not keep pace. Part of the reason was that Montana State was able to limit St. Clair in the second half to four points. The Hornets were 14 of 32 from the field in the second half.

The Hornets were led in scoring by Torilynn Boyd who had 18 points. She was backed up by St. Clair’s 15 points and Rexanne Rodriguez’s 13 points.

The lone positive that comes out of this loss is that the effort was constant according to Jenkins, who is trying to build an attitude and a confidence within the players who are part of her program.

“The effort was there, we never gave up,” Jenkins said. “We always stay after it.”

The effort was evident, as the Hornets were able to come from behind and narrow the deficit to nine points, after being down by 18 with 6:52 left in the game.

With the loss, the Hornets fell to 3-18 on the season. Their next game will be against Weber State, on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at Hornet gym.