SACRAMENTO -- Junior Isnelle Natabou and senior Kahalijah Dean finished with a team-high 16 points apiece to help lead a fourth-quarter Sacramento State comeback as the host Hornets rallied for their sixth consecutive victory, a 62-60 decision over Fresno State on Saturday afternoon at The Nest.
The six straight wins for Sacramento State is the program's longest since the Hornets won seven consecutive contests from Jan. 3-24 back in 2015. Improving to 6-1 overall on the year, Sacramento State limited the Bulldogs to just nine fourth quarter points and 31 percent from the field en route to the comeback.
Led by a game-high 18 points from both Yanina Todorova and Amaya West, Fresno State fell to 4-5 overall on the season, dropping its third consecutive decision.
Natabou was perfect from the field, hitting all seven of her shots and both of her attempts from the line on her way to her 16 points, scoring 10 of her 16 in the second half and eight of those 10 in the fourth quarter alone. The Czech Republic native reached double figures for the 13th consecutive game dating back to last season and grabbed 11 rebounds on Saturday, recording her fourth double-double of the season in the process.
She also dished out three assists and finished with three of the Hornets' six blocks on the day.
Dean, meanwhile, hit 5-of-10 from the field and added four assists to her scoring total, while senior Kaylin Randhawa added 10 points and five rebounds.
Sacramento State dominated the first quarter, shooting 59 percent to build a 15-point lead, including a 10-0 run at one point that erased an early two-point Bulldog lead, and led by 10 points at the break, 40-30, after Fresno State had closed to with six late in the period.
The Bulldogs made their move after halftime, outscoring the Hornets, 22-10 — including an 18-4 run over the first six-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter that gave them their first lead since early in the first quarter.
Redshirt freshman Benthe Versteeg then provided a spark, scoring Sacramento State's next six points to draw the Hornets even at 50 apiece with 1:25 to play in the period, but Todorova capitalized on a jump ball off a miss in the paint, driving for a lay-up for a two-point Fresno State lead heading to the fourth.
Natabou then took over, opening the fourth quarter with six straight points off a pair of assists by Madison Butcher and another by Dean to rebuild a four-point advantage, and Katie Peneueta put the Hornets up five points with her first basket of the game, a three-pointer from the left corner to make it 61-56 with 4:02 to play.
Fresno State answered with a three-pointer by West and continued to turn the screws, putting pressure on the Sacramento State defense to produce stops. Dean hit one from the line and Keely Brown found room in the middle to make it a one-point game with 40 seconds to play.
That set up some tense moments to wrap up the contest as the Hornets misfired on their next possession and Dean looked like she came down with a rebound on a miss by the Bulldogs after the timeout, but Brown tied her up for Fresno State with the arrow pointing in their favor.
With shades of the UC Irvine buzzer-beater in the season opener on everyone's minds and the inbound pass now coming from under the basket, Sacramento State needed one more stop and they got it as Aimee Book's jumper was off the rim and the ball was tipped up multiple times before Randhawa was able to corral it as the buzzer sounded, clinching the victory.
The Hornets finished the day shooting 46 percent from the floor to Fresno State's 48 percent, outrebounding the Bulldogs by a 32-25 count and posting 14 assists on their 25 makes for the game.
Sacramento State returns to the court on Wednesday (Dec. 7) with an early 11 a.m. tip-off at San Diego State, before returning home for its final home game of the calendar year, hosting CSU Bakersfield in the first game of a doubleheader with the men's team on Saturday (Dec. 10) at 1 p.m.
