After sweeping Eastern Washington and Portland State on the road last weekend, the Sacramento State women’s basketball team returned home to a healthy dose of reality Thursday night.

The Hornets were soundly beaten by Weber State 74-40 at the Hornets Nest.

“Weber State respected us. They were ready to play and they played their tails off and I don’t know that we were ready for that,” Hornets coach Dan Muscatell said.

The Hornets (7-14, 3-5 Big Sky) looked unprepared as the team played early with impatience, which helped lead to the team making only three of their first 12 field goal attempts.

“We didn’t come out and play as hard as we could have,” junior forward Lindsey Heard said. “They played harder than we did and that’s the bottom line.”

Heard, along with senior guard Tyeisha Brown, led the team with 11 points. Brown added four steals and an assist while Heard missed recording a double double by one rebound, grabbing nine.

Weber State (15-6, 6-2) was lead by sophomore forward Becky O’Neil who scored 15 points and senior guard Brooke Hansen, who scored 13. O’Neil also grabbed seven rebounds.

Big Sky leading scorer Julie Gjertsen was held to only eight points, but made her presence felt by dishing out six assists. The senior guard also added four rebounds and two steals to the Wildcats cause.

The Hornets managed to score the first points of the game on an Ashley Cadotte lay-up, but were then blitzed by Weber State, as the Wildcats went on a 24-4 run. Despite brief periods of solid play, Sac State never got closer than 16 points for the rest of the game.

“We think we can beat any team in our league. It’s a matter of putting it all together,” Heard said.

“It just seemed to be that out game plan tonight was too much for the team to digest,” Brown said. “There was a lot of confusion on the floor. We needed to go out and execute and we didn’t.

“I think that lead to some of the dragging and the impatience.”

Despite the loss, the Hornets remain optimistic.

“Our goal all along has been to make the playoffs and that’s still our goal,” Heard said.

Sac State plays again on Saturday at home against Idaho State. The Bengals beat the Hornets 63-57 earlier in the season at Reed Gym in Pocatello, Idaho.