Senior forward Emily Christensen got plenty of help from her teammates on senior night, as she helped lead the Sacramento State women’s basketball team to a win over the Big Sky’s top-ranked Idaho State University Bengals 73-65 Thursday night at the Nest.

Prior to Thursday’s game, the Hornets’ women’s basketball program was 1-31 all-time against the Bengals. But with leadership from Christensen, their only senior, and an additional 25 points from sophomore guard Alle Moreno, the Hornets were able to add another win to their record.

“It’s huge. Not only does it put us in the position for the postseason, but there’s nothing better than beating the number one-ranked team, especially on senior night. To send our one senior out on a good note is the best feeling to have,” said junior forward Kylie Kuhns.

As the only senior on the team, Christensen played a game to remember, finishing with 17 points, five rebounds, four assists, one block and two steals.

“I like how they kind of kept the senior night quick, because I don’t like thinking about that kind of stuff. It makes me sad,” Christensen said. “But I felt good, my team played amazing and I know that one was partly for me because they said it.”

Moreno led the Hornets with 25 points, going 9-of-14 from the field, 3-of-6 from behind the arc and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line.

“They were really over-playing me. I think they knew I was a shooter so I was able to get some easy shots inside at first, and that gave me confidence to hit my outside shots,” Moreno said.

It was a competitive game throughout the first half, but after calling a timeout with a little under three minutes to play, the Hornets came out and played with more defensive intensity to finish the half on a 6-2 run, which put them up 31-29 going into halftime.

“It’s a long 40 minutes when you’re a team that wants to play fast, but this is the number one team in the conference. They’re not going to go away. You’re going to have to keep fighting and you’re going to have to play hard for 40 minutes,” head coach Jamie Craighead said.

The Hornets kept the full-court defensive pressure on throughout the second half and it gave the Bengals problems. The Hornets forced turnovers on the defensive end and converted them into points on offense.

“They wanted to be a half court team that runs their offense for 30 seconds and we didn’t want to play defense for that long in the half court. So it was a big adjustment that worked, and we made big shots on the other end.” Craighead said.

Kuhns dominated the boards on both ends of the court to lead the Hornets with 15 total rebounds in addition to her eight points, three assists, five steals and one block.

“They are one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, and we knew if we were going to win we needed to be aggressive on the boards,” Kuhns said. “For me that meant I should go get some more rebounds because that’s how I was going to help the team win.”

The Hornets took care of the ball and played smart down the stretch to hold off the Bengals’ attempt to rally back from five down with fewer than three minutes to play in the game.

“We didn’t turn the ball over in the end. We were strong with the ball, we got fouled, knocked down some shots, and then we finished when we needed to on the defensive end,” Craighead said.

The Hornets put the finishing touches on a game they won in dominating fashion against the Bengals with a pair of free throws, and the Bengals’ disappointment showed.

“It just didn’t seem like they wanted it too much, and I feel like we walked all over them,” Christensen said. “It felt great. I couldn’t ask for a better win against the number one team on senior night and my last year.”

The Hornets’ big win keeps their hopes of making the Big Sky tournament alive as a sixth seed. They need to beat the Portland State Vikings in Portland, Ore., on Saturday, then need the Vikings to lose one of their two remaining games against No. 5 Montana or at No. 4 Northern Colorado.

“(The win is) a reminder that we’re headed in the right direction as a program. If we can win big games like that with some young kids, for me it says we’re headed in the right direction,” Craighead said.

JJ Williams can be reached at [email protected].