SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento State let a close game get away late on Thursday, falling at home in the Nest to the visiting Northern Colorado Bears, 67-50.

With the loss, Sacramento State falls to 1-15 overall and 1-12 in Big Sky competition. The Bears improve to 8-11 overall and an even 7-7 in league.

The Hornets got off to a hot start in Thursday's matinee matchup with the Bears, jumping out to a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter. The early 10-point lead would be the Hornets' largest, as Northern Colorado slowly climbed their way back in, taking its first lead late in the second quarter, 21-20.

From there, the two teams battled back and forth in the third quarter, trading leads twice and finding themselves tied another three times.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Hornets trailed by six, 46-40. That was as close as the score would be for the rest of the game as Sacramento State managed just 10 fourth-quarter points on 3-for-16 shooting. Northern Colorado, meanwhile, had its best quarter of the afternoon, scoring 21 points on 9-of-15 shooting.

Despite a closely contested game for three quarters, the Hornets dropped Thursday's matinee, 67-50.

Sarah Abney paced the Hornets offense on Thursday, scoring a team-high 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting. All four of her made baskets came from three-point range, her first career game with four made triples. Abney also added three rebounds to her line on Thursday.

Summer Menke added to her double-double total for the season, scoring 10 points while pulling in a game-high 11 rebounds. Menke continues to lead the Hornets in most categories, including scoring (14.0), rebounding (7.9), and steals (29), among others.

Jordan Olivares finished with a game-high five assists, one off her career-best of six, set earlier this season against Idaho State. The sophomore guard scored six points and collected five rebounds on Thursday, as well.

Overall, the Hornets shot just 27.9% from the floor compared to Northern Colorado's 46.6%. The Bears also beat the Hornets in rebounds, 46-33, assists, 13-12, and blocks, 5-3.

The two teams were nearly even in time leading. Sacramento State led for 16 minutes of Thursday's game while the Bears led for 17. The margin, however, is where the two teams were set apart, with the Hornets never leading by more than 10 while the Bears led by as many as 19. 

Thursday's afternoon matchup was the first of two with Northern Colorado. Sacramento State tips off at noon MT / 11 am PT on Saturday against the Bears in Greeley, Colo. Saturday's game will stream live online on Pluto.TV. For more information and other content on Sacramento State women's basketball, be sure to visit the Hornet women's basketball homepage online at HornetSports.com.