BOISE, Idaho — The Sacramento State women's basketball got off to about as good of a start as possible but could not continue that momentum before falling to Weber State, 74-64, in the first round of the Big Sky Tournament on Monday.

The Hornets made five of their first six shots in the game to take an early 11-2 lead four minutes into the game. However, after a Wildcat timeout, WSU began to chip away at the deficit behind great offensive rebounding which led to second chance points and only trailed by six, 20-14, at the end of the first quarter.

Sacramento State held the lead throughout the second quarter and took a five-point advantage, 32-27, into halftime. The Hornets and Wildcats traded baskets for most of the period as the lead fluctuated between two and six points. After Daryn Hickok's basket pulled Weber State within two with just over a minute to play, Katie Peneueta ended the half with a three-pointer. The Hornets played the entire quarter without the services of Isnelle Natabou who picked up two fouls in the first quarter.

The third quarter was the difference maker in the game as Weber State outscored Sacramento State, 22-11, to take a five-point lead. The majority of those points came in the later portion of the quarter as WSU closed the quarter on an 18-6 run. Aloma Solovi gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game with back-to-back threes to make it 42-20 with 4:09 left in the third.

After the Hornets retook the lead behind baskets from Natabou and Lianna Tillman, Kori Pentzer connected on a three, Jadyn Mathews hit a jump and Solovi converted a layup to end the period.

It was more of the same in the fourth quarter as Weber State quickly pushed its lead to double digits after a three from Solovi, three free throws and a layup from Hickok. Sacramento State was unable to get within 10 points until Emily Enochs buried a corner three to make it 70-62 with 47 seconds left in the contest. Two free throws from Solovi returned the Wildcat lead to 10 and the team added a pair free throws to secure the win.

The Wildcats shot 51.9 percent in the second half, including 6-of-9 from three. The team finished the game shooting 24-of-62 overall and was 7-of-17 from behind the arc. The big advantage for the team came on the offensive glass where the Wildcats had 18 rebounds which turned into 21 second-chance points compared to nine from Sacramento State. The team also had a decided advantage at the free-throw line, making 19-of-22 attempts while the Hornets made 10-of-11.

Sacramento State shot 46.2 percent from the field and was 6-of-19 from three. The team finished with 10 fewer shot attempts than the Wildcats.

Lianna Tillman, who was named the Big Sky MVP earlier on Monday, led all players with 23 points. Sacramento State also had three other players in double figures behind 11 from Peneueta, and 10 from Natabou and Summer Menke.

WSU was guided by 20 points from Solovi and received 19 from Hickok as well as 15 each from Pentzer and Emma Torbert. Jadyn Matthews had a game-high 13 rebounds while Torbert completed the double-double with 12 boards.

Sacramento State ends its season with a 14-16 overall record which marked an 11-game improvement from the prior season under first-year head coach Mark Campbell.

Tillman finished the year averaging 20.3 points per game and moved into second place in school single-season history with 591 points. She also recorded 179 assists during the year to finish fourth in school history.

Natabou closed her season with 328 rebounds which ranks fourth on the school single-season list and is the most by a freshman in program history.