The Sacramento State women’s basketball team’s season may be winding down to the last few games, but the season is only starting to heat up. The Big Sky Tournament starts March 12 and Sac State is currently tied for fourth in conference standings along with Northern Arizona, Eastern Washington and Northern Colorado. Each team is sitting at 4-6 in the conference.

Portland State (9-1) and Montana State (8-1) currently lead the Big Sky at a safe and distant first and second, but with Idaho State in third at 4-5 and with Montana and Weber State sitting tied for eighth at 3-6 each, the last few spots for conference play are still up for grabs.

Head coach Dan Muscatell describes the last few games as a “seven-way dogfight” for the last spots in the Big Sky Tournament. He said that the last seven teams in conference play are separated by only one and a half games; Sac State will play five of those teams in its last six games.

The entire season is riding on these last few games, and while the pressure to win is high, Muscatell thinks differently.

“It really helps us and focuses us because we need to take one game at a time,” he said.

He said that although it is cliché to say that the team is out win as many games as possible, it’s a fact that a single loss or victory can make or break the team’s chances at a berth in the Big Sky.

Despite yielding a 6-17 overall season so far, Muscatell said the team is not yet out of the picture because it has improved from every single game. He said what has been shown so far is not yet the plateau of the team’s performance.

“The team has continued to grow all the time,” he said. “Individually and collectively.”

Muscatell said the key to keeping the team as competitive as it has been this season is its impressive work ethic.

Helping the team to success will be players like junior guard/forward Charday Hunt, senior forward/center Atty Boyer and junior forward Erika Edwards. Scoring threat Charday Hunt currently leads the team in scoring and is third in conference at 14.3 points per game. Boyer and Edwards are both in the top ten for rebounds per game at 8.2 and 7, respectively.

The team will be on the road for the next three games. They play Montana on Thursday, Montana State on Saturday and Northern Arizona on Feb. 21.

But what the team is most looking forward to are the last three games of the season, which will be played at home. The team faces off against Idaho State on Feb. 26, Weber State on Feb. 28 and Northern Colorado on March 7. Muscatell said that he and the team are looking forward to the chance to determine their own destiny in their own building at home.

Justin Tejada can be reached at [email protected]