SACRAMENTO — Sophomore Benthe Versteeg finished with a team-high 12 points while senior Solape Amusan shared game-high honors with 10 rebounds, but a productive second quarter by visiting Eastern Washington broke open a low-scoring affair on Saturday afternoon as the Eagles posted a 60-33 victory over Sacramento State at The Nest.
The loss dropped the Hornets to 1-10 overall and 0-2 in Big Sky Conference play, while preseason league favorite EWU improved to 10-3 overall and 2-0 in conference.
Versteeg followed up her game-high 17 points against Idaho two nights ago with her third straight double-digit scoring affair on Saturday against Eastern Washington, hitting six baskets and adding five rebounds to her stat line. She has reached double figures in five of her last seven contests, averaging 14.7 ppg during her most recent run.
Amusan nearly posted her first double-double as a Hornet thanks to her work on the boards, setting a new career high with her first double-digit rebounding performance of the year. She added eight points, a block, and a steal to her final line.
Freshman Summah Hanson did a little bit of everything to help her side, scoring nine points, grabbing eight rebounds, and setting new career high's with four blocked shots and four steals.
The Hornets came out the gates stinging, scoring the first eight points and holding the Eagles to just 1-of-6 from the floor before the media timeout. EWU finally got on the board with a three-pointer from Aaliyah Alexander, which sparked a 10-2 run to close the period and knot the two teams at 10 apiece after one quarter.
Eastern Washington's run continued well into the second quarter with Alexander leading the charge. The Eagles broke open the game with a 17-0 run, which was ended by a pair of from the line by Sophia Lee with 3:08 remaining. That sparked a run of six straight for the Hornets, which got baskets from Hanson and Versteeg, pulling their team to within eight at 24-16 at the break.
Sacramento State closed to within seven on Hanson's three-pointer two minutes into the third — the only three-pointer of the day for the Hornet shooters — but the Eagles answered with an 8-0 run of their own, building a 15-point lead and they never looked back. The two teams traded baskets from that point before EWU closed the third with five straight points for its largest lead of the game.
After trailing by 22 midway through the fourth, four straight points by Amusan whittled the deficit back down to 18, but the Eagles closed the game on a 9-0 burst en route to the final score.
Alexander finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 from the field to go with 10 rebounds, while Jaydia Martin added 13 more points.
Eastern Washington shot only 37 percent from the field, but did the work on the defensive end, holding the Hornets to just 24 percent for the contest.
Sacramento State takes a brief break from conference play to participate in the Big Sky-Summit League Challenge next week, traveling to take on St. Thomas on Wednesday (Jan. 3) before hosting Oral Roberts on Saturday (Jan. 6) at 2 p.m.
