Sacramento State was neck and neck with Montana Saturday until a frustrating third quarter put the game on ice down the stretch, falling 69-63

Trailing by only one, the Hornets came out of halftime sluggish and only managed to shoot 35% from the floor in the third, allowing the Lady Griz to build up a lead the Hornets could not overcome.

Sac State attempted a rally midway through the fourth, led by a perfect final frame from redshirt sophomore guard Madison Butcher.

Butcher drilled two mid range jumpers and an elbow three to power the Hornets to outscore Montana 19-16 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to subdue the cold third quarter.

Sac State led the Lady Griz out of the gate thanks to senior forward Jaydia Martin catching fire early. She drilled three of her four total 3-pointers in the first quarter, including two within the first minute of play.

“I definitely just was shooting more confident today,” Martin said, who ended the night with 16 points and nine rebounds. “My teammates having my back and picking me up every time I shoot, telling me to shoot again definitely helps me be more confident.”

Alongside Martin’s sweet-shooting performance, senior forward Katie Peneueta, junior forward Fatoumata Jaiteh and redshirt junior Benthe Versteeg filled the stat sheet with 13 points apiece.

Beyond those four, the Hornets weren’t able to get much scoring from the rest of the squad, with redshirt sophomore Madison Butcher being the only other player to score.

“We didn’t have a bench presence,” head coach Aaron Kallhoff said. “It put a lot of pressure on our main four players to do a lot of things and go deep into it.”

Sac State attempted a rally midway through the fourth quarter, led by a perfect final frame from Butcher. She drilled two mid range jumpers and an elbow three to power the Hornets to outscore Montana 19-16 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to counteract the cold third quarter.

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The Hornets were able to overcome the Lady Griz’s height advantage and physicality in the paint, out rebounding them 37-34.

Jaiteh was dominant down low, grabbing nine rebounds and drawing six fouls. She went 6-of-9 from the line and played phenomenal defense against the inside-out offense of Montana.

Versteeg and Jaiteh were able to generate a lot of good looks for each other off of high post screens, playing an effective two-man game that the Hornets should look to go toward more in the future.

The absence of sophomore guard Lina Falk, who missed this game due to illness according to Sac State Athletics, was felt once again. The Hornets struggled to guard and grab rebounds on the weak side, where Falk usually patrols.

“The biggest thing we have to work on is those little defensive letdowns that we have,” Jaiteh said. “We need to tighten that up and not let teams go on 11-point runs.”

Senior guard Dani Bartsch of Montana was able to punish this weakness, notching her second double-double of the season, adding to Montana’s clinical paint shooting percentage of 48%.

This loss drops the Hornets to sixth place in the Big Sky Conference, setting up Thursday’s game against Eastern Washington as a vital matchup to keep them from plummeting to bottom four in the standings.

The Hornets look to snap their 3 loss skid against EWU in the Nest at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6.