The Sacramento State Women’s Gymnastics team fell short in a 196.175-191.875 lost to No. 17 Boise State at the 10th annual Beauty and the Beast competition Friday in Boise, Idaho.

Despite the Hornet’s having their best scoring outing of the season result in a lost, Coach Kim Hughes said he liked the way his team performed today particularly on the vaults and bars rotations.

“I was happy we improved our overall scoring today and were well balanced for the most part in all areas,” Hughes said.

Coming into today’s competition the Hornet’s were still searching for their first victory in the early season.

Sac State would come out strong for the second straight week, but began to show signs of trouble later on with the beam.

The Hornets began today’s meet on bars, scoring 48.150. Junior Nicole Meiller lead the way with a team high score 9.750. Freshman Killiah McCartney finished second on the team with a career high score of 9.700.

The next event took the team to vault where it totaled a score of 48.625. McCartney placed fifth with a career best 9.800. Hornet’s Kailey Hansen and Emiko Ono tied for seventh with a 9.725 score.

But Sac State wouldn’t go down without a fight with a team total of 48.475 on floor exercises. Hansen ranked second overall with a 9.875, while McCartney and Sophomore Kaite Osaki tied for seventh with 9.700s.

For McCartney, tonight was a career setting day finishing second in all-around scoring with a career best 39.025 behind Boise State’s Brittany Potvin-Green score of 39.350.

McCartney earned the Hornets only win in the meet on the balance beam, picking up the title and a 9.825 score.

Coach Hughes plans to focus on maintaining consistency in scoring, while encouraging his players to remain motivated going forward into the season.

Sac State’s gymnastics will compete next on Friday, Jan. 27 at home against conference rival San Jose State.

Gabriel Pacheco can be reached at [email protected].