Sacramento State trailed by as many as 11 in the first half but managed to trim the lead to one on two occasions before leaving the floor at the half with a 33-27 deficit.

In the second period, the Thunderbirds took advantage of five-consecutive missed shots by the Hornets to open a 42-27 lead at the 17:50 mark. Southern Utah never looked back as the Hornets only got as close as 17 (56-39) with 9:03 remaining in the contest.

Senior Diane Peterson led the Hornets with a team-high 12 points on 4-of-10 shooting from behind the three-point line. Junior Alyson Thurman added nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and freshman Jessica Voisard finished with eight points to also lead the squad. Sophomore Katelyn Ciampi collected a team-high nine rebounds.

Yates finished 9-of-15 from the field to lead the Southern Utah offense. Casey Cooke chipped in 18 points and a contest-high six assists. Janis Beal also added 12 points to round out the Thunderbird offense. Shauntel Garrett finished with a game-high 10 rebounds.

As a team, Thunderbirds shot 31-74 from the floor (.413) while also shooting 4-of-18 (.222) from the three-point line and 7-of-8 (.875) from the free-throw line. The Hornets finished 21-62 (.339) from the field, 5-of-16 (.313) from behind the arc and 6-of-10 (.600) from the charity stripe.

Sacramento State will next travel to Eugene, Ore., to compete in the Oregon Classic on Friday-Saturday, Nov. 28-29 at McArthur Court. The Hornets face North Carolina State on Friday, Nov. 28, at 6 p.m. The squad will then square-off against Kansas on Saturday, Nov. 29, at 6 p.m. Sacramento State hosts it home opener against Santa Clara on Monday, Dec. 1, at 7:05 p.m. at the Hornets Nest.

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