SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Kola Bad Bear scored 20 points to help Montana State to a 65-52 road win over Sacramento State on Wednesday night at The Nest.

After the teams played to a 14-14 tie in the first quarter, the Bobcats outscored the Hornets by four in the second quarter, five in the third and four in the fourth to slowly pull away. The victory improved MSU to 19-11 overall and 14-5 in Big Sky Conference games. Sacramento State dropped to 14-14 overall and nine in league games.

With one game remaining in the regular season, the Hornets sit in seventh place but are just one game back of a three-way tie for fourth place. With a win on Saturday at Northern Colorado, Montana State could tie Idaho State, which is 15-5, for the regular season title.

The Hornets were led by Isnelle Natabou on Wednesday as the freshman scored 19 points and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Summer Menke was the only other player on the team in double digits as she scored 10 to accompany six rebounds.

Sacramento State's last lead in the game came with 3:47 to play in the second quarter when a jump shot from Jazzy Carrasco put the team up 22-20. The game was later tied, 25-25, before MSU scored the final four points of the quarter to build a lead it would never relinquish.

The Bobcats started the third quarter on an 8-0 run to push their advantage to double digits for the first time in the game. Sacramento State narrowed the gap to seven behind another Carrasco bucket but found itself down nine, 43-34, at the end of the period.

The team got a three-pointer from Katie Peneueta to start the fourth quarter to make it a six point game. After both teams scores, Katelynn Limardo provided the big basket as she buried a three on a second-chance opportunity. The Hornets pulled within seven on two occasions before Montana State closed the game on a 9-2 run.

Second-chance points played a key role in the game as MSU scored 23 compared to nine for Sacramento State. Montana State finished with 16 more shot attempts (61-45) than the Hornets and made three more field goals (22-19) despite shooting a lower percentage (.361-.422). The Bobcats were also the aggressor for most of the evening resulting in 10 more free throw attempts than Sacramento State (23-13).

In a matchup of potential Big Sky MVPs, neither Darian White or Lianna Tillman had their best performances of the year. White finished with 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Tillman was held to a season-low two points on 1-of-6 shooting with a team-high five assists and two rebounds.

Sacramento State will close the regular season on Friday night against Montana at 7 p.m. Prior to the game, the team will honor five seniors who will be playing their last contest at The Nest.