It could be forgiven if Wednesday night’s basketball game between Ohio and Sacramento State were mistaken for a hockey game as the Hornets beat the Bobcats 83-76 at the Hornets Nest.

The Hornets overcame physical play from Ohio and their own shooting woes to win their second game of the year.

This is the first time that the Hornets (2-4) have won two games over NCAA Div. I opponent since the 2000-2001 season. This also marks the best start for the Hornets since the 1995-1996 season.

“We’ve been playing hard, and we kind of overcame ourselves tonight,” coach Dan Muscatell said. “We had seen them on film and knew they were going to press the whole game.”

In the first meeting between the two teams since 1994, the Bobcats (2-4) played an up-tempo game and utilized constant full-court pressure to create 29 Hornet turnovers, while committing 35 of their own.

In an unusual move, Ohio substituted for all five players on the floor in an effort to keep players rested and out of foul trouble. The two teams combined for 49 fouls, 22 from Sac State and 27 from Ohio.

“I’ve seen teams do that (style of substitution), but I don’t know that I have ever seen a team do it for the whole game,” said Muscatell. “But, we knew it would be a track meet.”

The Hornets stayed close in the first half, fighting back from a 12-point deficit to enter the locker room down only 43-40. It could have been closer, had the Hornets converted more than 9-of-22 from the free throw line. However, the Hornets shot 14-of-32 from the field, keeping themselves in the game.

“I thought that we shot free throws almost at the pace the game was played,” Muscatell said. “The bottom line is, that is a style of play that you don’t see every day.

“You can bet we are going to shoot a bunch of free throws between now and Nevada,”

In the second half, the Hornets capitalized on their tough defense, snagging nine steals and forcing 14 total Ohio turnovers to outscore the Bobcats by 10 in the second half.

Sophomore guard Stephanie Cherry led Sac State with a career-high 25 points as two other Hornets scored in double figures comprising senior guard Tyeisha Brown, with a season-high 22 points and junior center Katelyn Ciampi, who scored 10 points and added four rebounds.

Junior forward Ashley Cadotte just missed a double-double, scoring nine points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

“As long as we win as a team, my points don’t really matter,” Cherry said. “But, it feels nice.”

“It feels good, but I’m not over the edge with excitement because we’ve only won two games,” Brown said.

The Bobcats were equally balanced, with four players scoring in double figures and no players logging more than 23 minutes on the court. Ohio was lead by center Ciara Inglehart, who scored 13 points and added five rebounds.

“We just had to communicate on every substitution and call each other out, let ourselves know what we were doing,” said Brown.

The win was bittersweet though, as one of the Hornets starting guards, sophomore transfer Kim Sheehy, had to leave the game after a hard fall in which she hit her head on the floor.

“She has a concussion of some sort. She’ll need to rest her head for a few days,” Muscatell said.

The Hornets now have 10 days off to prepare for finals and their next game, at home against Nevada on Dec. 18. It will be the first time the two programs have met since 2003, when the Wolfpack beat the Hornets 65-55.