Sacramento State knocks off MSU women

BOZEMAN — Montana State’s 19-game is over, after Sacramento State rode hot 3-point shooting to 73-69 women’s basketball win over the Bobcats in front of 3,357 fans in Worthington Arena.

Sacramento State (13-17 overall, 6-11 in the Big Sky Conference) connected on 6 of 9 from beyond the arc in the opening quarter to hold a 20-19 lead. 

Montana State (26-3, 16-1) rattled off a 15-0 run over a span of four minutes, 35 seconds to take at 38-25 lead in the second quarter, but the Hornets got two more threes from Katie Peneueta before halftime, then launched a 13-0 burst in the third quarter.

Down 48-40, MSU rallied again and trailed 57-54 going to the fourth. 

The game came down to the final 1:25: A pair of free throws by MSU’s Taylor Janssen tied the contest at 69-69; moments later, Sacramento State’s Benthe Versteeg corralled an offensive rebound and scored with 37 seconds remaining. 

Both teams turned the ball over before Esmeralda Morales missed a drive for MSU. Versteeg got the board and hit two free throws with four seconds left.

“Credit Sac State, they played a heck of a game and shot the ball well,” MSU head coach Tricia Binford said. “It seemed like everything they were putting up was falling.

“We need to do a better job out of the gate and making those shots a little more difficult. Because once they got rolling it was hard to stop them.”

Morales led all scorers with 23 points. Natalie Picton had 12 points off the bench for the Bobcats, who played without the injured Marah Dykstra and Dylan Philip.

Peneueta and Versteeg guided Sacramento State with 19 and 17 points. The Hornets shot 12 of 27 from 3-point range.