SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Sacramento State led by 13 points in the third quarter but North Dakota rallied back with a big fourth quarter to claim an 86-79 win on Saturday in The Nest. Hornet seniors Sydonia Daniels, Ericka Magaña, and Adella Randle-El were honored prior to their final collegiate game.

With the loss Sacramento State (11-16, 8-8 Big Sky) was eliminated from contention for a top-four seed and a bye in the Big Sky Tournament. The team will open tournament play in Reno on Monday, March 7, though seeding and game times have yet to be decided. Red-hot North Dakota (15-12, 11-5 Big Sky) won its sixth straight road game and won for the 10th time in its last 11 games overall.

In a back-and-forth game with five ties and eight lead changes, including a 39-39 tie at halftime, Sacramento State held a 63-51 lead with just over three and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter. North Dakota answered with an 8-0 run but the Hornets still lead by six, 65-59, going to the fourth quarter.

The Fighting Hawks shot 57% in the fourth but the game was tied 73-73 with less than three minutes to play. North Dakota made its last five field goal attempts of the game while the Hornets made just one of their last eight shots. UND also shot 9-of-10 from the free throw line over the last two minutes to maintain a two-possession lead over the final 1:48 of the contest.

North Dakota shot 55.0% for the game while the Hornets struggled shooting at 32.9% overall and just 10-of-30 from 3-point range. The much larger Fighting Hawks had just a 46-39 rebounding advantage and the Hornets grabbed 20 offensive rebounds but had just a 12-8 edge in second chance points.

Sacramento State was solid at the free throw line, shooting 15-of-19, but UND got the stripe 24 times and made 20. North Dakota attempted just two 3-pointers in the game and used its size advantage to score 52 points in the paint and overcome 25 turnovers.

Randle-El had another big game in her final contest in The Nest, recording her fourth double-double of the year and leading the team with 28 points, 11 rebounds, six steals, and five assists playing 36 minutes. She broke the program single-season steals record with her first theft of the game and now has 105 steals this season, topping the previous program record of 99 steals set last season by Fantasia Hilliard.

Junior Brianna Burgos made six 3-pointers and tallied 20 points but came out of the game due to injury with seven and a half minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and did not return. Daniels contributed seven rebounds and Magaña had six points, three rebounds, and three assists on their senior day.

Sacramento State did well to battle back from an early deficit as North Dakota took an early 19-11 lead before a 13-2 run gave the Hornets the lead at the end of the first quarter. The Hornets led 39-29 with three and a half minutes left in the first half before the Hawks ended the half on a 10-0 run to draw even at halftime.

Three UND players scored in double figures with Mia Loyd and Lexi Klabo each tallying 18 points. Samantha Roscoe had 16 points as UND's bench outscored the Hornet bench 32-13 and the visitors tallied eight blocks.

The Hornets conclude the regular season on the road next week. With the Big Sky Tournament starting a week from Monday, the league has a Wednesday-Friday schedule next week with Sacramento State visiting Southern Utah before closing the regular season at Northern Arizona.