No. 6 Sacramento State’s women’s basketball team upset No. 3 Eastern Washington University, 71-61 Thursday night at Idaho State University’s Reed Gym to capture the women’s first win ever in the Big Sky Tournament.

The Hornets strung together four consecutive wins to end the regular season and earn the final seed in the tournament. Thursday night’s win makes the fifth straight for the Hornets and marks the first win the women’s basketball team has ever been able to get in Big Sky tournament play in four previous attempts.

The Hornets got off to their usual fast start, outshooting the Eagles in every category and leading throughout the entire first half. The Hornets shot 38.7 percent from the field, 44.4 percent from behind the arc and 80 percent from the free-throw line to finish the first half up 32-28.

Sac State came out of halftime and quickly pushed its four-point lead up to 12 within the first three minutes of the second half before allowing the Eagles to go on an 11-2 run and close the gap to a one-point Hornet lead with 11:34 in the game.

The Eagles continued to claw their way back into the game with 8:46 left to play and the Hornets found themselves tied 48-48 for the first time. The Hornets then went on a second-half run of their own, 23-13, to close out the game and send the Eagles home from the tournament early.

The Hornets knocked down 15 of 27 field goals to improve their second-half field goal percentage to 55.6 and received huge contributions from four players who finished the game with double figures in scoring.

Senior forward Emily Christensen finished with 15 points, junior forward Kylie Kuhns had 12 points, sophomore Alle Moreno put up 17 and the Big Sky’s most Outstanding Freshman of the Year Fantasia Hilliard added 17 points to her five assists and four steals.

The Hornets go for their sixth straight win Friday night in the semifinals of the tournament against No. 1 Idaho State, which the Hornets beat in their second to last game of the regular season on their way to clinching a postseason berth.

JJ Williams can be reached at [email protected].