Sacramento State’s women’s basketball team is going back to the Big Sky Conference Tournament for a second year in a row.

The Hornets, which secured the No. 3 seed over the weekend, will take on No. 6 Montana State University on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. to tip off tournament play.

The Bobcats had the Hornets’ number this season, beating Sac State on Jan. 16, 95-86 and Feb. 18, 84-73. The Feb. 18 loss halted the Hornets’ seven-game winning streak.

Montana State is led by three 13-plus point per game scorers in Katie Bussey (13.6), Sarah Strand (13.4) and Erica Perry (13.2). Strand also leads her team in rebounding at 7.3 per contest. The Bobcats finished with a 16-13 overall record and a 9-7 record in the conference.

Head coach Jamie Craighead said ending the winning streak might have been good for the team.

“Anytime you put together a few wins it makes anybody confident,” Craighead said. “I think the streak was pretty cool for the community and for the university itself. It just shows progress from our women’s basketball team.”

The winner of the tournament will receive the Big Sky’s automatic bid into the NCAA Women’s Basketball Division I Championship. If Eastern Washington University (19-10, 12-4), the No. 1 seed, does not win, it will advance to the National Invitational Tournament. A Big Sky Tournament berth did not seem attainable after the Hornets lost eight of their first 11 games of the season. But their defensive game plan changed, as they started to pressure their opponents. The result was an 11-2 close to the season, catapulting the team to its best conference record to date (10-6).

The University of Montana (15-13, 10-6) earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament. The Hornets split a pair of games this season with each team defending its home court. The Grizzlies won on Jan. 15, 77-61 while the Hornets won on Feb. 22, 100-83.

Montana is the Hornets’ likely second-round opponent if they advance. Montana is also the defending Big Sky champions.

“It has been a scramble to make it to the tournament,” said Robin Selvig, University of Montana’s head coach.

Selvig said the Hornets are a respectable opponent.

“Sac State has a really good basketball team,” Selvig said. “Jamie has done a great job this season coaching the Hornets for the first time. They need a little work but they have progressed a lot as a unit this season.”

Craighead said the Hornets have made improvements since the beginning of the season.

“The team has had to adjust to a new style of play. It took them some time to figure what it was like to play the way we play and how hard you have to work to do what we do,” Craighead said. “The players are meshing well together, which can sometimes be a process throughout a season. And it couldn’t have happened at a better time.”

Senior forward Charday Hunt said looking back at game footage has helped the team improve the way it plays the game.

“We have been working on our presses and our defense a little more,” Hunt said. “When we watch game film from the beginning of this season in comparison of now and we are a completely different team because we have gotten used to the system and we are starting to mold together as a team.”

Senior forward Erika Edwards said the biggest change she has seen is the team is starting to believe in the program more.

“We definitely have more confidence in ourselves,” Edwards said. “At the beginning of this season, starting a new system, we believed in it but we did not have it in the back of our hearts that it was going to work. After seven wins we know that it is possible and now we really believe in ourselves and have confidence in this team.”

Hunt said the new program has allowed the Hornets to play better ball all-around.

“We are all happy that this system has come about because it is so much more fun to play,” Hunt said. “It has helped us go from a slow motion team to a completely different team. It was really hard, but fun at the same time.”

Hunt said this season is memorable because of the accomplishments made as a team and her individual accomplishments as well.

“Playing with the same group of girls that I came in with and me scoring 1,000 points means a lot to me,” Hunt said. “We have broken so many school records as a team and that means a lot because we are really trying to change this program around. It feels good knowing that I am a senior and I am helping to do that.”

Hunt is the eighth person in school history to score more than 1,000 points.

Craighead said the Hornets must continue to finish plays at both ends of the court if they want to continue to win games.

“Rebounding is key for us,” she said. “We also must continually measure our success by being the hardest working team on the court. When we do that, we have really been able to wear teams down with our pressure and with the tempo of the game.”

Jules Ramzy can be reached at [email protected]