Squires’ Career-High Stings Hornets

Thursday, March 7

BOZEMAN

7 p.m.

Montana State University

16-13, 11-8BSC

Sacramento State

10-17, 6-13BSC

Sacramento State

Montana State

Oliana Squires scored a career-high 23 points in MSU's 64-58 win over Sacramento State on Thursday night.

Photo by: Andrew Pedersen

3/7/2019 10:10:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

“Oli (Oliana) was clutch,” said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. “We wanted the ball in her hands down the stretch and she delivered, both offensively, and defensively with her rebounding.”

By: Tom Schulz

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Montana State spotted Sacramento State nine points and withstood a hot-shooting Sacramento State squad with a formidable second-half defensive effort to post a 64-58 victory over the Hornets on Thursday night in Worthington Arena.

And, while the Bobcats upped its defensive pressure in the final 20-minutes, junior Oliana Squires took over offensively posting nine points in the final frame to lift MSU to the win. The product of Colorado Springs, Colo., finished with a career-high 23 points connecting on 9-of-16 from the field. She also pulled down nine rebounds and dished out four assists.

"Oli (Oliana) was clutch," said MSU head coach Tricia Binford. "We wanted the ball in her hands down the stretch and she delivered, both offensively, and defensively with her rebounding."

Sacramento State (10-17, 6-13) opened the game hitting its first three 3-point attempts, before Montana State (16-13, 11-8) responded with back-to-back triples via Martha Kuderer and Squires.

The Hornets held a 20-19 advantage after the first quarter after converting five-of-eight from long distance. The Bobcats held its own from beyond the arc as well connecting on four-of-four from beyond the arc.

The Bobcats took its first lead at the 7:59 mark of the second stanza on a Squires layup. The two teams traded baskets midway through the quarter which featured four ties. Sacramento State's Hannah Friend hit a triple with 40-seconds left to give the Hornets a 40-36 cushion heading into intermission.

"We were very limited with our ball pressure in the first half and they torched us out of the zone," Binford said. "Playing three games in six days with a brutal travel schedule gave us some tired legs and we came out flat. I'm proud of the way we got our legs back under us and finished out strong."

Sacramento State held a four-point lead at early in the third period before MSU rattled off a 9-0 run to take a 47-42 advantage at the 2:20 mark following a Madeline Smith layup. The Hornets responded with a 7-2 run to even the contest heading into the final frame.

With the score knotted at 56-all – the 11^th tie of the game – Squires went to work with a layup followed by a jumper to give MSU a 60-56 lead with 2:13 left. MSU secured the win down the stretch connecting on four-of-six from the line.

For the game, MSU shot 41 percent from the field, while holding Sacramento State 38.6 percent from the floor. The Hornets shot 45 percent in the first half, including a 58 percent (11-19) from three-point range.

Also hitting double-figures for MSU was Martha Kuderer with 13 points. Kuderer guided the Bobcats under the board with 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Smith finished with eight points and nine rebounds, while Blaire Braxton and Gabby Mocchi each added nine.

Sacramento State was paced in the loss by Friend with 17 points and six rebounds.

MSU, who secured the No. 5 seed at next week's Big Sky Tournament, will close out its regular-season hosting Portland State on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will celebrate MSU's two seniors- Claire Lundberg and Madisyn Shaide.