MOSCOW, Idaho – Facing Idaho for the first time as a member of the Big Sky conference, Sacramento State made 18 three-pointers and had a 51-46 rebounding advantage to score a 107-89 win on Thursday night in Moscow. The 107 points were a season high for the Hornets and tied for the fourth most points in a game in program history.

Sacramento State (6-10, 4-1 Big Sky) is off to its best Big Sky start in program history at 4-1 through five conference games. The Hornets have won four consecutive games after dropping their Big Sky opener and have now defeated four of the top six teams in the preseason Big Sky media poll. The two-time defending WAC champion, Idaho (7-8, 1-3 Big Sky) suffered its largest home loss of the season and continued to struggle in its new conference.

The undersized Hornets outrebounded their opponent for just the second time this season, grabbing 24 of their 51 boards on the offensive glass to lead to 20 second chance points. The squad shot 18-of-44 (40.9%) from 3-point range and forced 21 turnovers with just 10 of their own leading to a commanding 25-6 edge in points off turnovers, a 19-point difference that, not coincidentally, nearly matched the team's 18-point margin of victory.

There were four ties and nine lead changes in the game but the Hornets led for more than 33 minutes of the contest. Idaho took an early 4-0 lead – which turned out to be its biggest lead of the game – and the Hornets led by just a point at 25-24 at the 11 minute mark of the first half. A 7-0 spurt put Sacramento State up by eight and the Hornets led 52-41 in the final minutes of the half and had a 54-49 lead at the intermission.

Idaho battled back to even the score at 59-59 with 13 minutes to play. It was all Hornets from there as a 15-3 run over the next three minutes, capped by a 3-point play from sophomore Gretchen Harrigan, gave Sacramento State a 74-62 lead.

The Vandals never got closer than an eight point deficit through the remainder of the game. Sacramento State held Idaho to 32.4% shooting in the second half and outscored the home team by 13 points over the final 20 minutes to cruise to an 18-point win.

Senior Fantasia Hilliard led the Hornets with 23 points, shooting 3-of-3 from 3-point range and 8-of-9 from the free throw line to score 23 in just 23 minutes played. Sophomore Brianna Burgos hit a career-high five 3-pointers, shooting 5-of-7 from long range, for a career-high 17 points. Harrigan had 16 points and nine rebounds off the bench and senior Takara Burse had 12 points and a team-high six assists.

Sophomore Margaret Huntington paced the Hornets on the glass with 11 rebounds while Kyhonta Doughty brought down six. Of the 12 Hornets that saw game action on Thursday, 11 scored and nine had at least one rebound. Eight different players hit a 3-pointer in a total team effort.

Sacramento State shot 21-of-27 (77.8%) from the free throw line and had three more free throw attempts than Idaho. Overall Idaho shot 43.7% and the Hornets finished at an even 40%, with the Vandals shooting 56% in the first half but dropping off significantly in the second half.

Four Idaho players finished in double figures, led by 27 points and six rebounds from Brooke Reilly. Christina Salvatore and Ali Forde both had double-doubles and Stacey Barr, who came into the game leading the Big Sky with 20.3 points per game, finished with 21. The Vandals used just nine players in the game and were noticeably winded as the second half wound down and the Hornets pulled away.

The Hornets will face perhaps their toughest Big Sky test to date at 2 p.m. Saturday when they take on conference-leading Eastern Washington. The Eagles are 4-0 in the Big Sky and 11-4 overall this season after pummeling Portland State 101-54 on Thursday.