BOZEMAN, Mont. -- Kahlaijah Dean finished with a game-high 28 points and Solape Amusan continued her hot shooting with 18 more on Saturday afternoon, but Sacramento State's last-second attempt at the game-winner would not find the bottom of the net as time expired, allowing host Montana State to escape with a 61-60 victory in Bozeman, Mont.
The loss dropped the Hornets to 15-5 overall on the season and 6-3 in Big Sky Conference play, suffering back-to-back defeats for the first time this year.
After trailing by as many as 17 points in the game, the Bobcats roared back and held on to improve to 15-7 overall and remained in first place with an 8-2 record. Kola Bad Bear finished with a team-high 17 points, while Darian White added 13 more.
Dean, who finished with 24 points in the loss at Montana on Thursday, finished with eight baskets — half of those from beyond the arc — and 8-of-10 from the line, adding six rebounds and five assists in 38 minutes. It was the senior's 11th game with 20 or more points — including her seventh in the last eight outings — and reached double figures for the 11th consecutive contest.
Amusan, who set a collegiate best with 19 points against the Grizzlies, continued her torrid shooting on Saturday, finishing 6-of-10 from beyond the arc to tally 18 points while setting a new collegiate high with eight rebounds, surpassing the six she had against Wisconsin while at Illinois on March 9, 2021.
Since breaking into the starting lineup, Amusan is averaging 14.0 ppg over her last four games, sinking 15 of her 17 baskets from long distance and shooting .522 (12-for-23) in her last two contests.
Meanwhlie, junior Isnelle Natabou finished with seven rebounds on the day, moving her past Emily Christensen for 10th on the school's Division I career rebounding list with 534, just one back of Maranne Johnson (2014-18) for ninth and two behind Summer Menke (2018-22) for eighth.
Things couldn't have started better for the Hornets, who opened the game on a 13-0 run and extended that burst for a 19-2 lead, all the while holding Montana State to just six free throws and an 0-for-12 start from the field before the Bobcats were able to sink their first field goal of the game with just over a minute remaining in the first period.
Sacramento State led by 12 points after one quarter and extended that lead by a point at the break following a much slower-paced second period, taking a 36-23 lead into the locker room at halftime.
That's when the Bobcats made their move, opening the third quarter with a 10-0 run before Dean stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer. The two teams traded baskets with Montana State clawing its way to within two points on a pair of free throws by Taylor Janssen, but Amusan answered with three to give Sacramento State some breathing room.
The Hornets never led by more than five the rest of the way, carrying a three-point advantage into the fourth quarter and leading by five after a basket inside by Kaylin Randhawa with 7:29 to play for a 54-49 advantage. The Bobcats answered with a 6-0 run, taking their first lead of the game on a pair of free throws by Leia Beattie with 5:32 remaining.
Amusan sank another from deep and White scored inside to tie the game once again, and Bad Bear and Dean traded baskets to tie the game at 59-all with just under three to play. Bad Bear then found room inside for the eventual game-winner as Dean hit only 1-of-2 from the line with 1:51 to play and Montana State held on from there, limiting the Hornets to 1-of-9 from the field to close the contest and no field goals in their final five attempts.
Despite that, Sacramento State did have a chance to win it at the buzzer, grabbing an offensive rebound and calling timeout with 10.1 seconds remaining to set up the final play. Dean dribbled right and got into the lane to release a contested shot, but it sailed wide left as the Bobcats grabbed the rebound as the horn sounded.
The Hornets shot 62 percent in the opening quarter and 40 percent for the first half, holding Montana State to just 25 percent at the other end, but struggled in the second half as the percentages flipped with the Bobcats hitting 63 percent after the break en route to the win.
Sacramento State remains on the road for a pair of games next week, traveling to Eastern Washington on Thursday (Feb. 2) before taking on Idaho on Saturday (Feb. 4) to open the second half of Big Sky play.
