The “phenomenal individual feat” that women’s hoops coach Dan Muscatell described on Monday night wasn’t senior guard Lindsay Calmettes 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc for a career-high 12 points in the 78-59 loss against Montana on Saturday night.

Nor was he speaking about senior forward Lindsey Heard’s performance last Thursday in the 66-77 win against Montana State when she dropped a career-high 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting.

Though not a follower of the NBA, Muscatell had to admit that when he heard the news about Kobe Bryant’s 81-point performance against the Toronto Raptors he had to ask, “Really?”

For those who casually watch the NBA, the afterthought question was of course, “Did they win?”

For Muscatell and his Sac State squad, that “did we win” question always comes first ?” no matter how many points a player puts up.

The Hornets sit at the bottom of their conference, hoping not to finish the season as they did in 2005 when they won three of their final 10 regular season games. Last year’s Hornets finished the season 4-10 in the Big Sky and 8-20 overall, but it wasn’t until the second to last game that the 2004-05 team clinched a spot in the Big Sky Tournament. That was a different team and a different time.

“I believe that we’re a better team than we were a year ago,” Muscatell said. “My hope is that the team will go out and play every game and not worry about looking at all 10 games.”

With the biggest games of the season left on the schedule and a 1-3 record in a wide-open conference, Muscatell is hoping his team will play well the rest of the way. Well enough, that is, to earn the team its second-straight Big Sky tourney appearance.

The remaining 10 games will be the deciding factor on whether or not the Hornets make it in the tournament for a second time in a row, making each upcoming game the most important of the season.

“It’s the old coaching cliche,” Muscatell said, “and that is to go out and play every game like it’s the biggest game of the year.’

Armando Botello II can be reached at [email protected]