SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A strong fourth quarter helped push the Nevada women's basketball team to a 74-61 road victory at Sacramento State on Saturday.
The Wolf Pack (2-0) came out firing on all cylinders at the start of the game, building up a 20-4 lead just over four minutes in. During that stretch, Nevada was near perfect from the field hitting 9-of-10 shot attempts. The Hornets (0-3, 0-2 Big Sky) began to tighten up defensively though, holding the Pack scoreless for two minutes while they trimmed the gap to 10. Sacramento State and Nevada played pretty even basketball for the remainder of the first quarter as the Pack took a 27-18 lead into quarter two.
The second quarter belonged to the home team as the Hornets posted their best offensive and defensive 10 minutes of the contest. Sacramento State connected on 50 percent of its shots in that quarter, while holding Nevada to just 20 percent on offense, turning the tide of the game. The Wolf Pack was still able to hold onto the lead however, taking a one-point advantage, 38-37, into halftime. It wasn't long after the halftime break though that the Hornets grabbed their first lead of the game, scoring a basket on their first possession of the third quarter to snag a one-point lead.
At the 6:30 mark of the third quarter, Sacramento State pushed the lead out to six, its largest of the game. Nevada answered with a bucket of its own though and went on an 8-2 run to tie the game at 50 with 4:27 still to be played in the third. The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the quarter until the Pack snagged a four-point lead heading into the fourth. The final quarter was all Wolf Pack as the team quickly increased its advantage to eight points just two minutes in. A four-point deficit with five minutes to go is as close as the Hornets would get the rest of the way as Nevada began to stretch its lead into double figures at the 3:37 mark of the fourth after a made jumper from junior
Eliska Stebetakova. The Pack outscored the Hornets 18-9 in the fourth and held its opponent to just 30.8 percent shooting in that period.
Stebetakova posted a breakout game in just her second Division I contest, leading all scorers with 20 points. The Czech Republic native was lights out from the floor, knocking down 10-of-13 from the field, and added six rebounds to her day. Junior
Da'Ja Hamilton hit three 3-pointers in the game and finished with a season-high 17 points. Hamilton also collected five rebounds and tied her career-high of six assists. Junior
Amaya West and senior
LaPraisjah Johnson also reached double figures for the second straight game as West posted 14 points and Johnson finished with 10. West fell one rebound shy of recording her first career double-double.
Nevada and Sacramento State will square off again tomorrow at 12 p.m. at The Nest in Sacramento.
