A LOOK AT THIS WEEK

The Sacramento State women''s basketball team, which is 2-3 in

its last five games despite losing twice last week, concludes it

three-game road trip against Montana (Thursday, Feb. 8) and Montana

State (Friday, Feb. 9) on back-to-back days. Last week, the Hornets

fell at home to Cal State Northridge and lost on the road at Idaho

State. Following the Montana/Montana State games this week,

Sacramento State has just six games left on the regular season

schedule (four at home, two on the road).

The Hornets are 3-15 overall and eighth in the nine-team Big

Sky Conference with a 1-7 record. The team is 2-7 at home and 1-8 on

the road and has dropped 14-straight Big Sky games away from home

dating back to the 1998-99 season.

Montana, which has been crowned Big Sky champions six of the

last seven years, will enter Friday''s game with a 14-6 overall record

and a 6-3 mark in the conference. Currently tied for third place in

the Big Sky, the Grizzlies are 10-2 at Dahlberg Arena with their only

Big Sky loss coming to Idaho State. Since joining the conference in

1996-97, Sacramento State has never beaten Montana, going 0-8 over

that stretch.

Montana State, which is tied for third with Montana in the

Big Sky, will enter Friday''s game with a 13-7 overall record and a

6-3 conference mark. The Bobcats have won three of their last four

games, but fell at home to last-place Portland State on Saturday,

snapping the Vikings'' nine-game conference losing streak. The Hornets

and Bobcats, who have yet to play each other this season, split two

games last year.

A LOOK AT LAST WEEK

Sacramento State lost both of its games last week, losing at

home to Cal State Northridge on Thursday before falling at Idaho

State on Saturday.

Thursday, the Matadors'' Sha''Tasha Allen scored four of her

team-high 17 points during the final two minutes of the game to lead

Cal State Northridge to a 75-70 victory over the Hornets. Sacramento

State''s Michelle St. Clair led all scorers with 28 points, while

going 8-of-8 from the free throw line and dropping in four

three-pointers.

Trailing, 71-68, with possession of the ball and 38 seconds

to play, Hornet forward Sephora Scoubes'' pass was stolen by LaShaunda

Fowler, who was quickly fouled. After Fowler made both free throws to

push the Matador lead to five, the Hornets'' Kelly Hodges converted on

a lay-up to cut the lead to three with 12 seconds. With seven seconds

to play, the Hornets then fouled Allen, who knocked down both free

throws to ice the game.

Saturday, Idaho State opened the game on a 20-2 run and never

looked back while defeating the Hornets, 62-45. Sacramento State,

which went to the free throw line just once during the entire game,

was outrebounded by the Bengals, 39-22. After trailing, 44-23, at

halftime, the Hornets outscored Idaho State in the second stanza,

22-18, while closing the final 11:14 of the game on an 18-6 run.

Sacramento State was led by Sephora Scoubes'' team-high 20

points while Torilynn Boyd finished with 10 points and a team-high

seven rebounds.

ST. CLAIR CONTINUES TO FILL IT UP

With seven more three-pointers last week, Michelle St. Clair

is now the Sacramento State single-season record-holder for most

three-pointers (58). She also has a career total of 156 treys,

breaking the school''s old mark of 142, held by current assistant

coach Sarah Stapp.

On her current pace, she would finish the season with 84

three-pointers, shattering the Big Sky Conference single-season

record of 75, set by Weber State''s Shelley Olson last year. Also at

her current rate, she would finish her career with 182

three-pointers, one shy of the Big Sky record of 183, set by Portland

State''s Karrin Wilson. She already shattered the conference

single-game record of nine three-pointers earlier this season against

UC Riverside.

The Grass Valley, Calif., native is currently second in the

conference in scoring at 17.1 points per game. She has led the

Hornets in scoring in 12 games this year and has scored at least 20

points six times, including a career-high 36 against Riverside.

Among Big Sky leaders, St. Clair is also first in

three-pointers per game (3.22), fourth in free throw percentage

(.828, 53-64) and fifth in three-point field goal percentage (.365).

STRUGGLES ON THE ROAD

With last week''s loss at Idaho State, the Hornets have now

lost 14-straight Big Sky games on the road. The team has not been

within eight points in any of those contests and has not won since

defeating Eastern Washington in Cheney, Wash., 77-62, on Feb. 13,

1999. Since joining the conference, the Hornets are 2-34 in Big Sky

road games with their other win coming in a 51-42 victory at Cal

State Northridge on Feb. 22, 1997. The team has already snapped a

22-game road losing streak against all competition earlier this

season against UC Riverside.

Since joining the conference prior to the 1996-97 season, the

Sacramento State men''s and women''s basketball teams are a combined

2-70 against Big Sky competition on the road.

ROSTER AT JUST EIGHT PLAYERS

Sacramento State began the season with a roster of 10

players. Since that time, the number has dwindled to eight because of

injuries and academics. At the beginning of the season, sophomore

point guard Sydney Gatson was lost for the year after doctors decided

to operate on her ailing back. Seven games into the season, the team

lost junior forward Tracey Kenyon for the year after doctors advised

her to quit playing due to multiple injuries sustained throughout her

career. Next, sophomore forward Nichole Hardaway was deemed

academically ineligible 11 games into the season. All three players

were slated to start at the beginning of the year.

The team''s starting tandem of guards, St. Clair (39.1) and

Rexanne Rodriguez (39.2), both average an unbelievable amount of

minutes per game. Even with eight players on the roster, Sacramento

State has used a core of six players for most games. Junior center

April Ranney has played in just eight games and junior guard Shannon

Whent, who was upgraded from team manager to student-athlete on Jan.

4, has played in only two games.

TRAILING AT THE HALF

Plain and simple, when trailing at the half, Sacramento State

has a tendency to lose games. Just look at the numbers: This season,

the team is 0-11 when trailing at the half and has lost 13-straight

dating back to last season. Over the last five years, the team is

7-83 when trailing at halftime.

RODRIGUEZ AT THE POINT

After getting off to a relatively slow start this season,

sophomore point guard Rexanne Rodriguez has started to turn it around

over the past three weeks. Through the first 11 games of the season,

the Grass Valley, Calif., native had 40 assists and 50 turnovers. In

the seven games since, she has 57 assists and just 19 turnovers. For

the season, Rodriguez is now averaging 5.4 assists per game, third

best in the Big Sky, and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.4,

seventh best in the conference. On her current pace, Rodriguez would

finish the season with 140 assists, a mark that would place her third

in Sacramento State single-season history.

REBOUNDING DISPARITIES

Similar to last season''s struggles, Sacramento State has had

trouble controlling the boards. The team has been outrebounded 14

times this season and is currently last in the Big Sky in rebounding

margin (-9.0). The Hornets are 1-13 when being outrebounded and have

eclipsed the 40-rebound mark just once this season. Sacramento

State''s 22 rebounds at Idaho State last Saturday was not only a

season low, it was the lowest output by the team since recording 21

boards against Stanford on Dec. 19, 1995.

HORNET NOTABLES

Junior Sephora Scoubes'' 20 points against Idaho State marked the

third time she has scored 20 or more points this season. She was able

to accomplish the feat 11 times last year...in the last four games,

Sacramento State is shooting .773 (58-75) from the free throw line.

Scoubes has knocked down 11 in a row without missing, St. Clair 12 in

a row and Rodriguez seven in a row from the charity stripe...senior

Torilynn Boyd is tied for fourth in the Big Sky with four

double-doubles. Her 7.2 rebounds per game leads the team and is

seventh in the conference.