SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento State overcame an early deficit to take a third-quarter lead, but Nevada battled back late, taking the Hornets' home opener, 71-64.

The loss is Sacramento State's third of the year as the Hornets fall to 0-3 (0-2 Big Sky). For Nevada, the Wolf Pack improved to 2-0 on the season.

The Hornets got off to a slow start in Saturday afternoon's home opener, scoring just four points in the first four minutes as Nevada climbed to an early 20-4 lead. Sacramento State was far from done, however, chipping away at the Wolf Pack's lead, cutting the deficit to nine by the end of the quarter and just one, 38-37, at the half.

Junior guard Sarah Abney scored the first basket of the second half, giving Sacramento State its first lead of the afternoon, 39-38, and erasing Nevada's early 16-point lead. The Hornets continued to inch ahead, going up by six just moments later thanks to a Jessica Rios triple, her second of the game.

Midway through the third, Nevada countered with a run of their own and took a four-point, 56-52 lead into the final quarter, where it was all Wolf Pack on the way to a 74-61 final.

A key factor in the late Nevada push was a thin Hornets lineup as Sacramento State spent most of Saturday afternoon's contest with just six active players. The team started with seven, but junior point guard Milee Enger, who entered Saturday leading the team in minutes played, left midway through the second quarter with an injury, leaving a short bench even shorter.

Six of Sacramento State's seven players on Saturday eclipsed 20 minutes with four seeing more than 30 minutes of action, including a game and career-high 36 for Emily Enochs. Enochs, who is tired for the team lead with 13.7 points per game, finished with 10 on 4-of-11 shooting to go with three assists.

For the second straight game, junior guard Summer Menke led the offense, scoring 15 points to go with 11 rebounds, her first career double-double and Sacramento State's first this season. Menke was 4-of-9 from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. She also had two steals.

Menke is nearly averaging a double-double through three games, scoring 13.7 points and collecting 9.0 rebounds a game.  

Rios also finished in double figures, scoring a career-high 13 points on 4-of-12 shooting Rios was 3-for-7 from beyond the arc and was the only Hornet to find success from three. The rest of Sacramento State's lineup finished 0-for-11 from distance in the loss. 

While they struggled from three, the Hornets were excellent at the charity stipe, going 18-for-22 from the line. Free throws were a big part of Sacramento State's mid-game comeback as the Hornets took advantage of 23 Nevada fouls.

Overall, Sacramento State shot 34.5% overall compared to Nevada's 40.8%. The Wolf Pack outshot the Hornets, 31.3% to 16.7% from three and 87.5% to 81.8% from the free throw line.

Despite the short bench and extra minutes in Saturday's contest, the Hornets will be right back at it again tomorrow in game two of this weekend series. Sacramento State and Nevada will tip off the second of this weekend's games tomorrow at noon in The Nest.

More information on tomorrow's game, including links to watch live on Pluto TV, can be found by visiting the Sacramento State women's basketball homepage online at HornetSports.com.