Every player from the women’s basketball team that played in Saturday’s game against Northern Arizona contributed in some way. In the end though, it was one player who would pull through to make the game-deciding shot.

Head coach Dan Muscatell had watched junior Kim Sheehy miss some defensive switches actions during the game.

“She was just doing things uncharacteristic of Kim Sheehy,” Muscatell said.

So Muscatell decided to sit her on the bench with under 10 minutes left in the second half. Seemingly frustrated, Sheehy told the coach that she could play through it. Muscatell knew his leading scorer wasn’t lying.

With 12 seconds left on the game clock and the Hornets down by one, junior Stephanie Cherry got the ball into the hands of Sheehy, who was standing at the top of the arc. She dribbled for a second, then drove the lane and dropped in a floating layup making the score 60-59 Hornets. “In the last minute, wow, (Sheehy) stepped up on both ends,” Muscatell said.

Northern Arizona ended up turning the ball over with two seconds left when guard Sade Cunningham charged into a set Sheehy, forcing a turnover.

The nine other Hornets who played against the Lumberjacks each scored at least one point and eight of them had at least one assist.

Seniors Cindy Alldrin and Katelyn Ciampi finished with 10 points in Sac State’s first victory over Northern Arizona since the 1996-97 season.

“It’s nice to see kids overcome and that’s kind of what this game today was all about ?” overcoming,” Muscatell said. “We didn’t necessarily play great all the time, but we just stuck with it and had great, great resilience.”

The win over the Lumberjacks marked the most games that the women’s team has won since the 1995-96 season when the Hornets went 10-8 overall and 4-4 in the America West Conference under head coach Sue Huffman.

The Hornets (9-15, 4-8) will leave today and play Portland State (11-14, 5-7) tomorrow night at the Stott Center.

Following that game the team will fly to Spokane and take on Eastern Washington (10-15, 4-8) Saturday in the Hornets’ season finale on Reese Court. All three teams will be playing for the final two spots in the Big Sky tournament, which begins March 9.

Armando Botello II can be reached at [email protected]