Sacramento State came into the women’s Big Sky Tournament with something to prove and get the 0-3 record in tourney play off their back. They also came in as the number one offensive team in the conference, first in rebounding and first in steals. Add to that the humiliation of having been beat by Montana State twice in the regular season. On paper, Sac State should have been the favorite to win.
But Montana State had other plans. The Bobcats took the Hornets down 89-66 at Reese Court in Cheney, Washington in the first game of the BSC tournament Thursday afternoon. The Cats shot 50 percent from the floor while holding Sac State to 29 percent. MSU also out-rebounded the Hornets 55-41 and had five players in double figures led by sophomore Katie Bussey with 21 points, including five-for-eight three pointers.
Junior Sarah Strand ended the game with 14 points, all scored in the first half. Those 14 gave Strand 1000 career points. In addition, her three blocks in the game pushed her past Alaina Bauer as MSU’s career leader in blocks at 111.
“Her performance just catapulted our whole team defensively,” head coach Tricia Binford said. “And offensively she was really being aggressive to the basket. In that second half she came out and helped step up our defense—I think we came out a little flat.”
Sophomore Janette Jackson recorded her second career double-double in the game with 12 points and 16 rebounds.
“She is just the Energizer bunny out there,” Binford said. “She is a rebounding machine, she plays hard, and I think she is infectious with her energy.”
Sacramento State was led in scoring by Charday Hunt and Emily Christensen with 15 each. Hunt was the leading scorer in the Big Sky coming into the game, averaging over 18 points per game. She missed part of the second half with four fouls, the fourth which came on a charge taken by Katie Bussey.
“I felt our team really attacked her,” Binford said. “She is a kid you cannot really defend with one person. I wanted to make sure that when she put the ball on the ground, we held our ground and took the charge.”
MSU will face host Eastern Washington on Friday at 7:00 p.m. Mountain time.
MSU v Sacramento State box score