The Sacramento State women’s basketball team ended its eight-game losing streak after an 88-77 win over the Montana State Bobcats on Thursday night at the Nest.

The Hornets (4-18, 3-9 Big Sky Conference) never surrendered the lead once in the game after opening the contest with a successful basket.

“It’s always great to come home to the Nest,” Sac State coach Bunky Harkleroad said. “Great environment tonight, and I’m glad we stepped up, played well and got the win.”

Sac State seemed to go back to its old ways with an aggressive full-court defense; it was all a part of the game plan, according to Harkleroad.

“Against Montana State, you better match up early because when they run their stuff it’s easy to get lost and they shoot it so well,” Harkleroad said.

Sophomore guard Hannah Friend led Sac State in scoring once again with a game-high 31 points, nine rebounds and three steals. She was followed in scoring by senior guard Maranne Johnson who had 23 points, five rebounds and four assists.

En route to their 11 point victory, the Hornets shot 52 percent from the field and 42 percent from behind the 3-point arc. Friend attributes the success to putting in work at practice.

“We’ve been getting a lot of extra shots up,” Friend said. “The other week we shot 5,000 3’s each, so that definitely helps and we just had confidence.”

Sophomore guard Tiara Scott had a season-high in scoring with 21 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc. Scott seems to enjoy playing against Montana State as she scored a career-high 25 points against the Bobcats last season.

“I just let the game come to me for once and stopped thinking so much and worrying what the coaches want and what my teammates want,” Scott said. “I just went with the flow of the game.”

Montana State was led in scoring with 20 points by senior guard Hannah Caudill, but the Hornets were able to force her into committing a game-high nine turnovers.

Unlike in the last home game against Portland State, the Hornets were able to execute late and hold on for the win. At one point, Montana State made a 10-0 run to cut the Hornets’ lead to 11 but they stayed calm and were able to close out the game.

“We were finally on the same page for once tonight,” Scott said.

The Hornets played through adversity tonight as Scott pointed out that they only had eight active players due to injuries throughout their lineup.

Freshman guards Tiana Johnson, Dana DeGraffenreid, Skylar Jackson and senior forward Kyhonta Doughty all sat out with various injuries.

Despite this, Sac State came out and earned a victory to end its losing streak. Coming into tonight’s game, the Hornets had lost eight in a row and 12 of their last 13 games.

“Every game is winnable in the Big Sky and we showed that tonight,” Friend said.

This game was extra sweet for the Hornets as the last time these two teams met in Bozeman, Montana, the Bobcats dismantled Sac State by a score of 85-50. The Hornets also snapped a five-game losing streak to Montana State.

“Our (assistant coach Derrick Florence) talks about chasing this moment, and I think tonight we had a little taste of that moment and it was very evident throughout the whole game,” Friend said.

Sac State will look to build upon this win in its next game on Saturday at 2:05 p.m. against the University of Montana at the Nest.