SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In front of a lunchtime crowd of 1,144 fans — including a raucous contingent of local grade school kids as part of "Field Trip Day" at Hornet Pavilion — the Sacramento State women's basketball team put on a defensive showcase en route to a 65-45 victory over visiting Nevada on Thursday morning.

The Hornets improved to 2-0 overall on the season, snapping a 16-game losing skid in the series with the Wolf Pack dating back the 1995-96 season. Nevada fell to 1-1 with the loss.

Monday's attendance marked the seventh-largest single-game crowd in the program's Division I history and the fourth-largest for an on-campus contest — just 157 fans shy of the record of 1,301 at The Nest against Northern Arizona in 2006.

Sacramento State gave everyone plenty to cheer for, finishing the day hitting 50 percent from the field overall and forcing Nevada into 24 turnovers. The Wolf Pack, meanwhile, were limited to just 36 percent shooting for the game and 0-for-12 from beyond the arc — the first time the Hornets have held an opponent to without a three-pointer since shutting out Nevada (0-for-7) from distance on Nov. 9, 2019.

Senior guard Benthe Versteeg finished with a team-high 14 points on 5-of-9 from the field, adding four rebounds and five assists while ending the day a game-high plus-22. Junior Natalie Picton added 13 more points to go with four steals as part of a balanced scoring effort that saw nine different players get into the scoring column.

Juniors Elizabeth Abiara and Keanna Salave'a led the Hornets on the boards with five rebounds each, with the latter adding eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and a pair of blocks.
 

Sacramento State never trailed in the contest, leading by as many as 23 points with just over three minutes to play in the contest.

The Hornets shot 57 percent from the floor in the opening quarter, using a 14-2 run over the final six-plus minutes — including nine straight points at one stretch — to break open a one-point game and lead by 13 after one. At the other end, a swarming Sacramento State defense hamstrung Nevada shooters, limiting the Wolf Pack to just 2-of-8 from the floor and forcing them into eight turnovers.

A basket inside by Tali Fa'i to start the second quarter boosted the lead to 15 points before the visitors began to chip away. Both teams went back-and-forth over the next five minutes before the Wolf Pack — who shot 60 percent in the period — closed the half with a 10-2 burst, whittling the Hornet lead down to just five at the break. 

Nevada clawed to within four points on a free throw with 7:36 to play in the third, but that would be as close as the Wolf Pack would get. A driving lay-up by Brooklyn Taylor keyed a personal 5-0 run and sparked a 12-4 spurt by the Hornets that rebuild the lead to 12 with less than a minute to play in the period and they never looked back.

The lead was never less than 13 points from the 7:40 mark on as Sacramento State scored 12 of the final 18 points en route to the victory.

Sacramento State closes out the opening week of play with its first road game of the season, making the trip to Berkeley, Calif., to face California on Sunday (Nov. 9) at 7 p.m. at Haas Pavilion.