The Sacramento State women’s basketball team snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating the Academy of Art University on Monday night, 92-70.

Both teams got off to hot shooting starts, as the Hornets made eight of their first 11 shots, while the Urban Knights made eight of their first 13. Each team eventually cooled off. The Hornets shot 47.4 percent for the game and the Urban Knights shot 35.8 percent.

The Academy was able to keep it close in the first half, as the score was tied at 40, much to the chagrin of Hornet head coach Jamie Craighead.

“I think in the first half we got it handed to us a little bit,” Craighead said. “Their perimeter players were running a lot harder than my perimeter players. We were struggling to get setup in our defense off of made baskets. I think they (Urban Knights) came to beat a Division I basketball team on their schedule and I really applaud them for that.”

Freshman forward Kylie Kuhns agreed with Craighead’s assessment.

“The first half, we struggled to play our game – push the tempo (and) come out with aggressiveness,” Kuhns said. “We started playing our style and it showed in the score.”

And it did.

The Hornets outscored the Academy 52-30 in the second half, led by junior forward Emily Christensen’s career- and game-high 24 points on 10-17 shooting.

“It felt good,” Christensen said. “It felt good to get out of a shooting slump that I’ve been in, but also the team – we’ve been in a shooting slump.”

Senior forwards Charaday Hunt and Erika Edwards contributed 19 points, eight rebounds and 14 points and seven rebounds, respectively. Freshman forward Kylie Kuhns added eight points, six rebounds and two blocks, while junior guard Tika Koshiyama-Diaz had nine assists and no turnovers.

The Hornets turned the ball over 15 times – seven times fewer than their season average (22.1).

“They really didn’t put much pressure on me,” Koshiyama-Diaz said. “I was able to make good passes, see the floor more and luckily, I didn’t turn the ball over.”

Guard Lorraine Etchell led the Urban Knights with 17 points. Guard Madeline Houston chipped in 16 points. Forward Jessica Nolan pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass.

The win improves the Hornets to 3-8 overall, while the Academy falls to 4-7 on the season.

The team returns to the court on Dec. 31, when they play host to the Eastern Washington Eagles in its first Big Sky Conference game of the season at 1:05 p.m.