A Big Sky conference match-up between the Sacramento State Hornets and the Montana Lady Griz started and ended with Montana in control, giving the Hornets a loss of 88-79 on Sunday afternoon in The Nest.

Sac State’s only lead of the game was by one point, 23 seconds into the first half. Montana dominated the game from then on, ending the first half with a 10-0 run that pushed its lead to 14, 39-25.

The Lady Griz led by as much as 21 points with just about 11 minutes left in the game, allowing them to hang on to a 9-point victory. The Hornets fell too far behind in the first half to catch up, but played well for the last 12 minutes of the game to reach that nine-point difference by the end.

The Hornets shot 80 percent from the free throw line, while the Lady Griz shot for only 60.9 percent. The major fluke was the whopping 22 turnovers Sacramento gave up. Coach Jamie Craighead and captain Kylie Kuhns both took note of these mistakes and said the team will be focusing on keeping possession of the ball and not giving up turnovers for easy points.

Although the Hornets had four players who scored double digit points, it was not enough to shut down the 51.2 percent field goal shooting the Lady Griz put up in the first half. Montana’s Katie Baker had 22 points, Torry Hill had 19 points, 9 of which came from 3-pointers, and  Kenzie De Boer scored 15 points.

“If they played the whole game like they did in the last 12 minutes, it would have been easier,” said Craighead, leaving the team to realize they’ve learned something from the game, to not wait until the last couple minutes to play their hardest.

Fantasia Hilliard put the Hornets on the board with a 3-pointer and ended the first half with her career-high of 4-of-5 made 3-point attempts. Also contributing 3-point shots were Alle Moreno and Se’nyce Parrish with three, Captain Emily Christensen with two, and Natasha Torgerson with one

Hilliard attained her career high of 21 points and had a game high six assists. Kuhns remained consistent, earning another double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds.

The Hornets will travel Thursday for a re-match against Big Sky conference rival Weber State, which they defeated in December.

Jillian Kweller can be reached at [email protected].