A LOOK AT THIS WEEK

The Sacramento State women's basketball team, fresh off a

pair of home losses last week including a heartbreaking 62-59 loss to

Weber State, wraps up its road portion of the schedule this week. The

Hornets travel to Portland, Ore., on Thursday, Feb. 22, to take on

the Vikings of Portland State before making the trip to Cheney,

Wash., on Saturday, Feb. 24, to face the Eagles of Eastern

Washington. Both games are set to begins at 7:05 p.m. PST.

The Hornets, who enter the week with a 3-19 overall record

and a 1-11 mark in the Big Sky Conference, have just four games left

on the schedule including home games against Montana and Idaho State

next week. With last Saturday's loss to Weber State, the team was

eliminated from Big Sky playoff contention. The top six teams in the

conference advance to the conference playoffs March 8-10. The Hornets

have now missed the Big Sky playoffs four years in a row after

reaching the postseason tournament in its first year with the

conference in 1996-97.

Portland State enters Thursday's game with a 2-22 overall

record and a 1-11 mark in the Big Sky. The Vikings have lost of 17 of

their last 18 games with their only Big Sky victory coming two weeks

ago at Montana State. PSU is 0-11 at home this year and has lost

12-straight at the Stott Center dating back to last season. The

Hornets' lone Big Sky victory came in a 75-56 home win over the

Vikings on Jan. 27. Since joining the conference, the Hornets are 4-5

against Portland State.

Eastern Washington is currently battling Cal State Northridge

for the sixth and final Big Sky playoff spot. The Eagles sit in

seventh place with a 4-8 conference mark, one game back of the

Matadors. EWU snapped its four-game losing streak last week with an

85-63 victory over Portland State. The Eagles (9-15 overall) defeated

the Hornets in Sacramento, 67-54, on Jan. 25, but have won just once

since that time. Sacramento State is 3-6 all-time against Eastern

Washington.

A LOOK AT LAST WEEK

Sacramento State dropped a pair of home games last week,

losing 73-64 against Montana State on Thursday and 62-59 vs. Weber

State on Saturday.

Thursday, Montana State used a 24-9 run over the first 12

minutes of the second half to break open a game that had been 33-32

in favor of MSU at halftime. The Hornets missed 10 of their first 14

shots while committing seven turnovers in the first 11:14 of the

second half. MSU took advantage, building its lead to 57-41 with 8:46

remaining, effectively putting the game away. The Hornets closed the

contest on a 19-11 run to lose by nine.

Jessica Blake and Isabel Stubbs each scored 19 points for the

Bobcats while Torilynn Boyd led the Hornets with 18 points and a

game-high 10 rebounds. Montana State converted on 21-of-27 free

throws while the Hornets went just 5-of-6 from the charity stripe.

Saturday, Michelle St. Clair's desperation three-pointer at

the buzzer went wide left as the Hornets lost to Weber State by the

three-point margin. Weber State's Kristen Hesselbach made 1-of-2 free

throws to put the Wildcats up, 62-59, with seven seconds to play. St.

Clair, who scored a game-high 22 points, took the inbounds pass and

dribbled the length of the floor before hoisting up a 30-footer with

two Wildcat defenders on her.

In a game which featured 13 lead changes and eight ties,

Weber State took its largest lead of the contest at 55-48 with 6:57

to play. The Hornets responded with a 7-0 run on a three-pointer by

St. Clair and pair of buckets from Sephora Scoubes to tie the score

at 55-55 with 4:21 to play.

With the Hornets trailing, 61-59, Torilynn Boyd had a chance

to tie but missed a 10-footer from the baseline with 10 seconds left.

Hesselbach grabbed the rebound and was fouled with seven seconds

left. St. Clair's 22-point effort came on 9-of-16 shooting including

4-of-6 from beyond the three-point line. Scoubes added 15 points,

seven rebounds and five blocked shots for the Hornets.

STRUGGLES ON THE ROAD

Sacramento State has lost 16-straight Big Sky games on the

road. The team has been within eight points in just one 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 2-36 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 already snapped an overall 22-game road losing streak

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

2-74 against Big Sky competition on the road.

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 0-14 when trailing at the half and has lost 16-straight

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

7-86 when trailing at halftime.

ST. CLAIR GUNNING FOR BIG SKY RECORDS

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

now has 69 three-pointers this season. Having already broken the

Sacramento State single-season record for treys, she needs just seven

in the final four games to break the Big Sky record of 75, set last

season by Weber State's Shelley Olson. On her current pace, St. Clair

would finish the year with 82 three-pointers.

Also the Sacramento State career leader in three-pointers,

St. Clair is on pace to finish her four-year career with 180

three-pointers, three shy of the Big Sky record of 183, held by

Portland State's Karrin Wilson. St. Clair already broke the

conference single-game record with nine three-pointers earlier this

season against UC Riverside.

Currently tied for fifth in the nation and first in the Big

Sky in three-pointers (3.14 per game), the Grass Valley, Calif.,

leads the conference with 17.0 points per game and is ranked in the

top-10 in three other Big Sky categories including tied for third in

free throw percentage (.831), fifth in three-point percentage (.377)

and eighth in steals (1.91 per game).

St. Clair has led the team in scoring in 14 games this season

and has scored at least 20 points eight times, including a

career-high 36 at UC Riverside. In her three years prior to this

season, St. Clair had never scored more than 18 points in a game and

combined to average just 7.8 points per game.

RODRIGUEZ AT THE POINT

In her last seven games, point guard Rexanne Rodriguez has 52

assists and 12 turnovers (good for a 4.3 assist-to-turnover ratio).

The sophomore has recorded at least eight assists in seven of her

last nine games and now leads the Big Sky with 5.55 assists per game.

She is also sixth in the conference with a 1.61 assist-to-turnover

ratio. On her current pace, the Grass Valley, Calif., native would

finish the season with 144 assists which would place her third

all-time in Sacramento State single-season history and 10th in

conference history.

SEEING DOUBLE

With last Thursday's 18-point, 10-rebound performance, senior

Torilynn Boyd recorded her fifth double-double of the season, fourth

most in the Big Sky this season. The Mentone, Calif., native

currently averages 10.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. The

rebounding mark is sixth-best in the conference and the points are

17th-best. Boyd has led or shared the team lead in rebounding in each

of the last three games and 12 games overall this season.

HORNET NOTABLES

Sacramento State recorded a season-high 10 blocked shots against

Weber State including five by Sephora Scoubes...the Hornets have been

to the free throw line a combined 16 times in the last three

games...six Hornet losses this season have come by six points or

less...Rexanne Rodriguez had played all 40 minutes in each of the

last eight games before playing 36 against Weber State...Scoubes has

recorded double figures in points in six of her last seven games and

currently sits eighth in the Big Sky and second on the team with 13.0

points per game...despite their record, the Hornets have been

outscored by an average of just five points in the second halves of

games this season.