OGDEN, Utah. - For the second straight game, senior guard Cindy Alldrin led Sacramento State in scoring, but the Hornets’ two game winning streak was snapped in a 59-55 loss at Weber State on Thursday night at the Dee Events Center.Sacramento State falls to 8-12 on the year and 3-5 in the Big Sky, while Weber State is now 12-9 overall and 6-2 in the conference, moving into a first-place tie with Northern Arizona (16-7, 6-2) in the league standings.
Alldrin scored a team-high 16 points and also brought down six rebounds in the game, while Katelyn Ciampi added 11 points and seven rebounds (four offensive).
The Hornets’ biggest nemesis was their shooting, knocking down just 21-of-64 attempts (32.8 percent), while Weber State shot 49.0 percent (24-of-49) from the floor.
Throughout the first half, the teams exchanged the lead 11 times before Sara Tuomi’s jumper gave the Wildcats a 29-27 advantage at the break. During the first 20 minutes, Sacramento State forced Weber State into 11 turnovers, while Lindsey Heard led Sacramento State in scoring with eight points, knocking down two shots from long distance.
During the second half, despite coming from behind and tying the game on four occasions, the Hornets were never able to take the lead. With 13:21 remaining in the game, a free throw from Stephanie Cherry tied things at 36-36, but the Wildcats then opened up their largest lead of the game on an 8-2 run, sparked by Laura Porter’s six points.
Trailing 44-38 with 9:36 left to go, Ciampi made her second three-pointer of the season to cut the lead in half, but buckets from Jenna Griffitts and Chelsey Warburton kept Weber State out in front.
Down 48-43 at the 4:37 mark, Sacramento State went on a 7-2 run, with all the scoring coming from Alldrin, to tie things at 50-50 with 2:25 remaining. Weber State then relied on Porter, who scored a game-high 18 points, down the stretch. Porter converted 3-of-5 free throw attempts and also hit a jumper in the final two minutes, while Tuomi added two buckets. Alldrin scored the Hornets’ last 11 points of the game.
Shantee Releford also finished in double figures for Weber State with 12 points.
The Hornets turned the ball over 21 times during the game, but had 21 second chance attempts on the offensive boards and were unable to take advantage.
Sacramento State will next travel to play Idaho State (11-11, 5-3) at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday at Reed Gymnasium. A live audio broadcast will be available on www.isubengals.com.
