Freshman Katelyn Ciampi

With the loss, Sacramento State concludes the season with a 3-24 overall record and a 1-13 mark in the Big Sky. Northern Arizona concludes the regular season with a 13-14 overall mark and a 6-8 conference record. The Lumberjacks will advance to next weekend’s Big Sky Tournament as the No. 6 seed.

Northern Arizona took advantage of 30 Hornet turnovers and shot 46.8 percent (29-62) from the field. Despite being outrebounded, 50-29, Northern Arizona converted on three more field goals (29-26) and three more three-pointers (5-2).

Sacramento State could not overcome a poor start as Northern Arizona scored the first 17 points of the game. The Lumberjacks held the Hornets scoreless for the first 4:35 of the contest while converting each of their first seven shots of the half. Sacramento State, however, responded with a 17-6 run to slice NAU’s lead to six (23-17) with 9:09 to play. The Hornets got to within four points on a Sarah Craig three-pointer (32-28) before the Lumberjacks closed the half on a 6-2 run to go into the break with a 38-30 lead.

The second half was played even throughout as Northern Arizona’s largest lead was 14 points. The Hornets cut the lead to three (47-44) on a Danielle Iceman lay-up with 11:30 to go, but NAU scored six of the next eight points to lead, 53-46, with 8:53 to play. Northern Arizona’s lead never shrunk below four points the rest of the way as the Lumberjacks settled for the 11-point victory.

Snitker’s 22 points came on 11-of-18 shooting as she led four Lumberjacks in double figures including Lacey Tolbert (20 points and a team-high tying six steals), Lindsey Foster (15 points, eight assists and six steals) and Joy Dixon (12 points). The Lumberjacks finished with 18 assists as four different players finished with at least three.

Sacramento State was led by freshman Katelyn Ciampi as the center finished with career highs in both points (18) and rebounds (12). Ciampi went 8-of-12 from the field and tallied a game-high seven offensive rebounds. Joining Ciampi in double figures were freshman Sarah Craig (15 points), and juniors Sydney Gatson (13 points and a team-best five steals) and Danielle Iceman (11 points). Sophomore Kristine Knowlton added 11 rebounds and finished the season with a team-best five double-digit rebound games.

The Hornets finished the game shooting 38.8 percent (26-67) from the field, but could not overcome the 30 turnovers. Sacramento State’s 14 steals marked its second-best output of the season as five different Hornets finished with at least two.

Craig finished the season as the Hornets’ leading scorer (12.2 points per game) while Ciampi was the team’s leading rebounder (6.4 per game). Junior Diane Peterson finished the year with 43 three-pointers, the seventh-best mark in Sacramento State single-season history while her 86 assists tied for the 10th-best mark. Knowlton finished the year with 51 blocked shots as she now holds the fifth-best mark (set last year with 57) and the sixth-best mark (51) in school single-season history.

The Hornets’ 3-24 record was a three-game improvement over the previous season and the team’s victory at Montana State last week was the first Big Sky win for Sacramento State since the 2000-01 season.

All six of Sacramento State’s primary starters this season will return in 2003-04, including freshmen Craig and Ciampi, sophomore Knowlton, and juniors Gatson, Peterson and Iceman.