From the cellar of the Big Sky Conference to the No. 6 seed in the conference tournament, the women’s basketball team turned the program around this season.

 After going 4-25 (1-15 Big Sky) last year, the Hornets drastically improved their record going 13-18 (7-9) and strung together four consecutive wins to end the regular season and force their way into the tournament.

 In the first round, the Hornets met up with No. 3 seed Eastern Washington University, which beat them twice this season.

 The Hornets never trailed in the game, but the Eagles made things interesting late and forced the game’s first tie at 48-48 with 8:46 left on the clock in the second half.

 With major contributions from senior forward Emily Christensen, junior forward Kylie Kuhns, sophomore guard Alle Moreno and freshman point guard Fantasia Hilliard, who all finished the game with double figures in scoring, the Hornets went on a 23-13 run to close out the game and sent the No. 3 seeded Eagles home early 71-61.

 The win was the Hornets’ first Big Sky Tournament win in school history and head coach Jamie Craighead said it was an important step in the team’s rebuilding process.

 “The win was really big for our players and coaching staff,” Craighead said. “We wanted to do something never done before and redefine where the program is going, so it feels good being able to accomplish that.”

 Christensen finished with 15 points, Kuhns had 12 points, Moreno put up 17 and the Big Sky’s Outstanding Freshman of the Year Hilliard added 17 points to her five assists and four steals.

 Craighead said all four had great games and she thought the whole team played well together.

 “Those four really showed their character and they would do whatever it takes down the stretch,” Craighead said. “We never really felt like we were going to lose and that’s the mentality you need to have, but everyone contributed. We played a real team game; they wanted to achieve and they did.”

 Friday night’s game against No. 1 Idaho State University, which the Hornets beat in their second-to-last game of the regular season in order to earn a postseason berth, resulted in a different outcome.

 The Hornets found themselves on the opposite end of a game similar to the one they played the night before. They trailed the Bengals for a majority of the first half, but battled to stay neck and neck on the scoreboard and go into halftime up one, 37-36.

 “We executed really well in the first half, but there were real momentum shifts in the second half,” Craighead said. “With them being the home team, we knew it was going to be difficult to beat them and we had some things happen to us that got us off on the wrong foot.”

 The second half was unfriendly to the Hornets as they struggled to get anything going offensively, while the Bengals continued to play well on both ends of the court. The Bengals continued shooting more than 40 percent from the field and the Hornets went cold only connecting on 6-of-23 field goals and 1-of-8 three-pointers.

 Like the Hornets in their game the previous night, the Bengals had multiple double-digit scorers helping them secure a spot in the Big Sky Championship game, which they went on to win on their home court.

 The Hornets success this season came out of nowhere as they were picked to be last place in the Big Sky in both the media and coaches preseason conference polls.

 The reason for this was due to the fact that the Hornets came into this season with a completely new look.

 Three of their starters from last year, Tika Koshiyama-Diaz, Jasmine Cannady and Sami Field-Polisso, graduated and junior forward Natasha Torgerson has been moved to a limited role this year.

 The only familiar face on the Hornets frontline is Kuhns who has averaged 12.3 points and 9.9 rebounds during her three years on the team.

Moreno only played nine minutes per game last year, but this year she became the starting shooting guard and saw her minutes sky rocket to 30.5 per game.

 Moreno has averaged 13.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.9 assists and a team-high 2.5 steals per game this season.

 Moreno was also named to the honorable mention all-conference team this season by the Big Sky.

 “I think my mentality changed a lot last year after the season,” Moreno said. “I realized I really had to step up my game and I wanted to make an impact on the team this year, so I trained all spring, summer and fall and just pushed myself to get better.”

 One of the biggest returns to the team this season was the lone senior Christensen.

 Christensen missed all of last season with a knee injury that she suffered in the first game, but she returned this year to average 12.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 27.4 minutes of action.

Craighead said being young, game experience has been a major reason for the team’s improvement. 

“It’s that experience factor,” Craighead said. “You look at the teams that are successful. Idaho State brought back five starters from a year ago, we’re bringing back four. Our bench play, everybody got experience.”

 With only Christensen graduating, the Hornets will come back with all familiar faces and Craighead said she’s excited to continue building on this year’s improvements.

“Our team’s mindset is different, they know what they want and what they have to do to get there,” Craighead said.

 JJ Williams and Josh Stanley can be reached at [email protected].