With both teams entering the Hornets Nest looking for their first Big Sky Conference win, Sacramento State beat Northern Colorado 54-47 tonight for the Hornets’ first home win of the new year.

The women’s basketball team was successful in spreading the ball out on offense. Eight players scored.

The Hornets started the game energetically. A loose ball recovery by the Hornets freed guard Stephaine Cherry to hit the three in the opening minutes after Bears center Nicole Ford and forward Heather Barbour collided with guard Kim Sheehy.

The Hornets, playing a much stronger defensive performance than in its game two games, ago, established the lead early in the game and went into the locker room at halftime up 24-15.

The team has been playing better as a team by passing the ball and positioning themselves in the right spots, Boyer said, compared to their Thursday night performance. After a quiet first half, forward Atty Boyer finished with 4-for-15 shooting for 12 points and eight rebounds.

“I still have a lot of (work) pretty much to do, but I feel like I’m more comfortable (in the offense) this year,” Boyer said.

The Hornets were aggressive, but showed a lack of control as Hornet defenders collided into each other fighting for the rebound and with two wild passes veering out of bounds.

In a game in which coach Dan Muscatell described as a “180 degree” change in effort, Muscatell told his players at halftime they have to treat the offensive side of the ball as an art form.

“An artist doesn’t walk up and smash his (canvas) with the paint brush. You have to go down on the offensive end and you got to play the thing like an artist,” Muscatell said. “I’m trying to get them to understand when we got to go like crazy and play that hard and then on the other end be the artist that you have to be on the basketball court.”

With the last two minutes of the first half ticking away, the Hornets offense began to fall into sync as the team shot 3-for-5, breaking away to a nine point lead.

Cherry sparked the shooting spree as she beat center Dani Veal on the one-on-one coverage inside the key with a spin move to the left for a hard-earned two points.

The Hornets carried on their intensity into the second half as they maintained their lead, but Cherry didn’t play much of the half as she committed five personal fouls and saw only six additional minutes in the game.

Getting into foul trouble early in the game, freshman Ashley Garcia played much of the second half.

“Ashley Garcia, I think, she matches my effort on the defensive end, so I wasn’t really concerned with (her),” Cherry said,” I’m confident in her, we practice hard against each other in practice and I’m trying to prepare her so I’m pretty confident for her to take me spot (next year).”

With the final minutes of the clock ticking away, the Bears were crept in on the Hornets lead. But the Bears could only close the deficit to seven.

Guard Whitley Cox made up the majority of the Bear’s offense, contributing 10 of the team’s 15 points in the first half and shooting 4-for-4 on the line. Cox was 6-for-17 for the night with 8-9 on the line and led the team in scoring with 20.

Coach Jim White said the Bears didn’t control the ball well. The team turned the ball over 14 times in the first half and had a hard time penetrating the Hornet’s pressure defense. The Bears finished with 19 turnovers to nine assists.

“(The Hornets’) record doesn’t truly say what kind of team they are, there are a hard match-up because of the small post and because they can all play outside and shoot the three,” White said,” They’re also hard because their perimeters are really tall and I think that affect us too.”

Matthew Beltran can be reached at [email protected]