BOISE, Idaho — Junior guard Natalie Picton led the Hornets with a team-high 19 points and Sacramento State limited Idaho State to just 34 percent shooting overall to punch its ticket to the Big Sky Conference Tournament semifinals with a 62-53 victory on Monday afternoon at Idaho Central Arena.
The victory improved the fifth-seeded Hornets to 15-17 overall, setting up a date with top-seeded Idaho on Tuesday afternoon (March 10) at 11 a.m. PT. Sacramento State has now won six of tis last eight Big Sky Tournament games and gained the semifinal round for only the fifth time in the program's history (2012, 2013, 2015, 2023).
Led by a game-high 21 points from Tasia Jordan, the fourth-seeded Bengals finished its season at 19-11 overall.
Picton hit 7-of-16 from the field, including a trio of three-pointers, adding three assists and finishing a plus-11 on the day. She was the only Hornet in double figures, but Sacramento received balanced scoring up and down the lineup as eight different players finished in the scoring column.
Junior Keanna Salave'a flirted with a double-double, scoring seven points and grabbing eight rebounds, while senior guard Benthe Versteeg finished with eight points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
With her rebounding total, Versteeg became only the seventh player in the program's Division I history to score 1,000 career points and grab 500 career rebounds while needing just one assist to reach 600 for her career.
A back-and-forth first quarter saw the Hornets grab the lead for good on a three-point play by Elizabeth Abiara and finished the period on an 8-4 run to lead by three after one. A three-pointer by Fatoumata Jaiteh staked Sacramento State to its largest lead of the game to that point to start the second, but the Bengals whittled it back down to a one possession game on two occasions midway through the quarter.
Idaho State then went cold from the field, finishing with just one field goal and three free throws over the final six minutes of the half as the Hornets took advantage. Sacramento State scored eight of the final 10 points of the period after the Bengals were whistled for a flagrant foul with Rubi Gray hitting a pair from the line followed by three-pointers from Picton and Jaety Mandaquit to take an 11-point lead at the break.
The 13-5 run by the Hornets at the end of the first half carried over into the second as Salave'a scored inside and Versteeg drained a jumper that gave Sacramento State its largest lead of the game at 39-24 with seven minutes remaining in the third quarter.
However, Idaho State had one more rally in it as a three-pointer by Kacey Spink sparked a 13-3 burst by the Bengals, making it a five-point game at 42-37 with 1:43 to play. Picton then drained her third triple of the contest with 51 seconds to play and Salave'a finished 1-of-2 from the line to rebuild the lead back to nine and the Hornets held on from there.
Picton opened the fourth by scoring six of the first eight points in the quarter and Idaho State never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.
Sacramento State shot 39 percent from the field, including a 46 percent clip in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the Bengals hit just 2-of-14 from distance, but out-rebounded the Hornets, 38-29.
