Sacramento State women’s basketball, seeded at No. 6, fell to No. 1 seed Idaho State 70-57 Friday evening in the Bengals’ Reed Gym in the semifinal round of the Big Sky Conference.

Sac State ended the first half leading Idaho State, 37-36, but faltered in the second with the Bengals taking the offensive and ending the Hornets’ five game winning-streak, scoring an additional 34 points with 48 total rebounds.

The Hornets junior forward Kylie Kuhns scored eight points in the second half, had three rebounds but also had three personal fouls. Following in scoring was freshman guard Fantasia Hilliard, who scored six points from free throws and two steals.

Idaho State was able to come back in the second half with a series of layups and jumpers from junior guard Kaela Oakes and sophomore forward Cydney Horton, who each scored eight points.

The Hornets’ leading scorer was senior forward Emily Christensen with 12 points, followed by sophomore guard Alle Moreno and Kuhns with 10 points each.

The top scorer for the Bengals was sophomore guard Lindsey Reed who scored 17 points from six field goals, two 3-pointers and had 11 rebounds against Sac State.

The first half had Moreno scoring a layup for the Hornets within the first 20 seconds of play and four rebounds. She gave Sac State its first lead at 5:59 with a 3-pointer, putting the Hornets up 25-24. She would later make a 3-pointer in the second half then foul out with 57 seconds left.


Junior forward Natasha Torgerson made two 3-pointers and converted on three-of-six field goals off the bench. She knocked down a 3-pointer with 52 seconds left in the first half which gave Sac State its lead at halftime.

The Hornets’ closed their season with a 13-18 win-loss record, nine more wins overall than last season. Their conference record for the season stands at a 7-9.

Joe de Ocampo can be reached at [email protected].