CHENEY, Wash. -- Senior Kahlaijah Dean and junior Isnelle Natabou each finished in double figures, but the Sacramento State women's basketball team could not find its way out of an early hole, falling on the road at Eastern Washington by the score of 64-53 on Thursday night at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
The defeat was the third straight for the Hornets, who fell to 15-6 overall and 6-4 in Big Sky Conference play, while the Eagles snapped a three-game skid in the series, improving to 14-7 overall and 7-4 in league games, moving a half game ahead of Sacramento State in the standings.
Dean recorded her 12th consecutive double-digit scoring performance, finishing with a team-high 18 points to go with six rebounds and a pair of assists, doing most of her damage from the free throw line. The senior from Bakersfield, Calif., was a perfect 8-for-8 from the stripe on the night, matching her performance at Cal State Fullerton back on Dec. 21 which ranks tied for 10th on the school's Division I single-game list.
Further, Dean's eight makes from the line give her 112 for the season, tying her with Shelby Boudreaux (1995-96) for 10th on the school's single-season list and tied for eighth alongside Boudreaux on the program's Division I single-season chart.
Natabou, meanwhile, narrowly missed out her 11th double-double of the season, recording 17 points on 8-of-15 from the field to go with nine rebounds — four of those on the offensive end. The nine boards gave her 543 for her career, moving her past former Hornet standouts Maranne Johnson (2014-18) and Summer Menke (2018-22) for eighth on the school's Division I era list, just three back of Atty Boyer (2005-09) for seventh.
Sacramento State scored the first basket of the game and traded scores with EWU on the next two possessions before the Eagles' went ahead for good. A three-pointer by Aaliyah Alexander sparked a 9-2 run that gave Eastern Washington a five-point lead and an 11-2 burst later in the half turned a two-point contest into an 11-point lead in favor of the home side with less than a minute to play in the first quarter.
After trailing by as many as 12 in the second, the Hornets turned it on and went on an 11-2 run of their own, cutting the deficit to three points at 28-25 with 2:13 remaining in the opening half and trailed by only five at the break.
That would be as close as Sacramento State would get the rest of the way as the Eagles pushed the advantage to 11 points at the end of the third and led by as many as 21 in the final quarter en route to the victory.
The Hornets were limited to just 38 percent shooting for the contest compared to 41 percent for Eastern Washington, while the Eagles held a 38-32 advantage on the glass — including a 16-9 lead on the offensive end.
Sacramento State's longest stretch of road games comes to an end in Moscow, Idaho, on Saturday (Feb. 4), tipping off against Idaho at 2 p.m. The Vandals earned their third consecutive victory on Thursday, out-lasting Portland State for a 77-70 victory.
IN THE BONUS: Sophomore Katie Peneueta made her return to the court after missing the team's previous four games, finishing with seven rebounds… Freshman Irune Orio made her collegiate debut in the fourth quarter, netting her first career points with a three-pointer and playing seven minutes… With a block on Thursday night, Natabou moved to within five swats of Sephora Scoubes (1999-01) for seventh on the school's all-time blocked shots list.
