The Idaho State Bengals woman’s basketball team topped the Sacramento State Hornets in a 70-64 decision Thursday night at the Hornet’s Nest. With the loss, the Hornets fall to 7-20 overall and to 5-9 within Big Sky conference play.

After a slow start by both teams the Bengals caught the scoring bug first and managed to break away to a 28-20 lead with 7:45 left to play in the first half. Thanks to the strong bench play of Sacramento State the Hornets were able to recover with an 8-0 run led by two 3-point shots from sophomore Jasmine Cannady that tied the game.

Freshman Nneka Payne went on to contribute 8 more points and sophomore Emily Christensen added 6 before the half was over, but the superior rebounding of the Bengals led Idaho State to a 39-36 half time lead.

In the second half the Hornets were led by Christensen who scored 14 more points. As the half went on the Bengals were able to pull away and led by as much as 9 before the Hornets responded to close the gap to 1 with 11:07 left in the second half. The Bengals responded quickly and went on a 5-0 run from which the Hornets would not be able to recover.

With 4:08 remaining in the game, junior Erika Edwards nailed a 3-point shot to close the Bengal lead to 5, with a score of 63-58. After a time out the Hornets took the court playing a more aggressive full court press and were able to hold the Bengals scoreless for several possessions. However, with turnovers of their own the Hornets would be unable to close the gap any further.

Christensen finished the night with 20 points, which was a career high. She went 8-of-15 from the floor and was 1-of-1 for 3. She added 3-of-4 from the free throw line. Cannady finished the game with 9 points, all 3 points shots, and had a career high 10 rebounds. Edwards added 10 rebounds as well.

With the loss the Hornets 5-9 conference record places them in a tie with Northern Arizona for seventh place in the Big Sky, and just outside of the playoff picture.