Hornets knock off Lady Griz 75-57

Thursday, February 26

Sacramento, Calif.

7:30 PM (MT)

Montana

7-20, 4-12BSC

Sacramento State

13-16, 7-9BSC

Montana

Sacramento St.

Photos: Sacramento State Athletics

2/26/2026 10:30:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Montana Sports Information

A hot start and a strong finish propelled Sacramento State to a 75-57 victory over the Montana women's basketball team on Thursday night at Hornet Pavilion in Sacramento.

The Hornets (13-16, 7-9 BSC) went 10 for 16 in the opening period, then closed the game outscoring the Lady Griz 14-4 in the fourth quarter, limiting Montana to 1-of-12 shooting in the final period.

Sacramento State led the final 35 minutes to move up to fifth in the Big Sky Conference standings and send the Lady Griz (7-20, 4-12 BSC) to their seventh consecutive loss.

Trailing 21-12 after 10 minutes, Montana pulled within three in the second quarter, within six in the third and was down 61-54 early in the fourth before the Hornets pulled away for good.

"I thought we had some chances. We scrapped the middle two quarters and gave ourselves some looks to really get back in the game and tighten the thing up," said coach Nate Harris.

"The first and fourth quarters got away from us. We struggled both quarters to put the biscuit in the basket."

The loss keeps Montana in eighth place and ensures the Lady Griz will play a first-round game in Boise at the Big Sky Conference Championship a week from Saturday.

Montana plays at Portland State on Saturday afternoon, then hosts Northern Colorado in Missoula on Monday night in its regular-season finale.

"Just have to keep grinding. Got two left to prep for Boise and try to figure out what we can do there," said Harris.

When Montana lost last month at home to Sacramento State, it was Rubi Gray, Benthe Versteeg and Natalie Picton who led the way, scoring 52 of the Hornets' 64 points in their 64-57 win.

On Thursday night, it was more of the same. Picton went 6 for 11 from the 3-point line and scored 24 points, Versteeg had 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Gray scored 17.

The Hornets went 10 for 25 from the 3-point line and shot 48.3 percent overall, the sixth straight opponent to shoot 48 percent or better against Montana.

"They are a three-headed monster. They are going to score with Gray, Versteeg and Picton, and they did that today," said Harris. "They did a tremendous job of knocking down shots."

Jocelyn Land, who had averaged 6.1 points the last nine games, broke out with 21, her third-highest scoring game of the season and her most since putting up 30 at North Dakota in early December.

Kennedy Gillette, making her second consecutive start, scored 10.

Avery Waddington, playing point guard for a bulk of the night with Mack Konig limited to eight minutes, had 12 points, matched her career high with six assists and had three steals and two blocks.

"I thought Jocelyn had a good performance. Kennedy was pretty solid in her minutes. Avery did a good job of distributing the ball when she needed to," said Harris.

Montana and Portland State (6-22, 2-14 BSC) will tip off at 3 p.m. (MT) on Saturday. The Vikings lost 66-63 at home to Montana State on Thursday night, a game that was tied entering the final minute.