The Sacramento State women’s basketball team ended their regular season with two road losses, locking them in as the eighth seed for the Big Sky Conference Tournament.
Sac State traveled to Portland, Oregon on Saturday where, reigning Big Sky Player of the Week, junior guard Esmeralda Morales steered the Vikings to a win.
Two days later, the Hornets faltered in Cheney, Washington against the first place Eastern Washington Eagles after a third quarter collapse.
Saturday: Portland State: 57, Sac State: 51
Sac State and Portland State played a tight first half with both teams trading baskets and struggling to gain any separation.
Morales’ shot creation was on display right out of the gate, freeing up space for floaters and connecting on a deep step back three-pointer to give the Vikings a 15-13 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“When you lax and you’re not locked in on guarding [Morales] with team defense it’s tough,” Sac State head coach Aaron Kallhoff said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of guarding her.”
Freshman guard Lina Falk was making key plays for the Hornets in the second quarter, including intercepting a pass at the top of the key and taking it the length of the court for a layup.
The ball found Falk on the wing who nailed a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 30 points a piece in the second quarter.
The Vikings wasted no time in the second half, forcing a turnover which resulted in a fast break alley-oop to junior forward Lana Wenger.
Portland State got off to an early 6-0 run and Kallhoff was not happy with the effort of his starters. He pulled all five starters and brought in the second unit who were able to get stops but couldn’t convert on offense.
“I did not like their effort, execution, their attention to detail,” Kallhoff said. “I looked at it as a wake up call.”
After a minute and a half, the Hornet starters substituted back into the game with new found energy and went on an 8-0 run to take the lead.
Portland State was held scoreless for five minutes before junior guard Alaya Fitzgerald connected on a corner three-point shot. This jumpstarted their offense as Morales scored five straight points to end the quarter, giving the Vikings a 44-42 lead.
The step-back triples were working for Morales who made another to open the fourth quarter scoring a game-high 25 points.
After a big three-pointer from sophomore guard Irune Orio to limit Portland State’s momentum, the Hornets crashed the glass and freshman forward Summah Hanson converted a second-chance layup to make it a two point game with three and a half minutes remaining.
Sac State was held scoreless for the rest of the game after a stretch of missed jump shots and opportunities at the rim.
“I think I counted that we had seven people miss layups today and we had some people miss multiple layups,” Kallhoff said.
The Hornets 19% shooting in the fourth quarter was simply too much to overcome, resulting in their fourth straight loss.
Monday: Eastern Washington: 72, Sac State: 59
Sac State faced an uphill battle in their regular season finale against Eastern Washington who were one win away from clinching sole possession of the Big Sky Regular Season Title.
The Eagles jumped out to a 12-3 run until senior forward Solape Amusan and freshman forward Ayanna Jackson responded with back-to-back three-pointers to get the Hornets’ offense going.
Hanson followed this up with a pump fake at the top of the key, sending an Eagle defender flying by to free up a mid-range jump shot.
This momentum carried into the second quarter where redshirt sophomore guard Benthe Versteeg was going back-and-forth with Eastern Washington’s senior guard Jamie Loera.
Versteeg and Loera were both driving to the basket, creating scoring opportunities for themselves and their teammates. Both point guards recorded a double-double, showing why they are the top two assist leaders in the conference.
Sac State trailed by eight points going into halftime but a dominant third quarter from Eastern Washington extended their lead and put them in control of the game.
Third quarter struggles have plagued the Hornets all season and it was much of the same in this contest as the Eagles shot 69% in the third compared to the Hornets’ 28%.
“Our shots weren’t falling and our defense wasn’t as good as it should be,” Versteeg said.
Eastern Washington’s defense was forcing Sac State into tough shots and the Eagles had multiple contributors on the offensive side of the ball. Four starters for the Eagles finished with double-digit scoring.
“We didn’t execute,” Kallhoff said. “When we’re really good it’s when our defense is really good and not letting our offense dictate it.”
The regular season title was in sight for the Eagles as they went into the fourth quarter with a 23-point lead.
Sac State’s scoring bounced back in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 16 but Eastern Washington converted on trips to the paint to silence any chance of a comeback.
The final buzzer of the regular season sounded with the Eagles securing a 72-59 victory over Sac State, ending the Hornets’ season with a 5-24 record.
“Thinking back to the conference season starting in December, it feels like it’s gone so quickly,” Hanson said. “It doesn’t feel like it’s over yet though because we still got next week in Idaho.”
The Hornets will be in Boise, Idaho to face seventh seeded Idaho State in the first round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
