For the Hornets, often times it’s all about math.
The Sacramento State women’s basketball team has definitive statistical goals. Unorthodox head coach Bunky Harkleroad wants his Hornets to shoot 100 field goals, including 50 3-pointers each game. He wants to force 30 turnovers and secure 40 percent of the offensive rebounds.
During the first round of the Big Sky Conference women’s tournament on Monday evening, seventh-seeded Sac State attained at least a few of the goals in rolling to a 102-89 first-round win over 10th-seeded Southern Utah.
The Hornets surpassed the 100-point plateau for the fifth time this season, the most in NCAA Division I. Sac shot 96 shots, hitting 38 of them, including a 19 of 58 from beyond the arc. Sac shot 58 3-pointers, surpassing 50 for the seventh time this season and nearly surpassing 100 shots for the fifth time. The Hornets were one 3-pointer short of hitting 20 3-pointers for the fifth time this winter.
Sac State forced 21 turnovers with its swarming press, nearly four less than its season average but the Hornets won the possession battle by securing 30 offensive rebounds on a possible 58 shots, or more than 50 percent of the possible chances.
“That’s how it’s supposed to work,” said Harkleroad after his team moved to 14-16 on the season. “Sometimes it doesn’t. But our team right now, when we get offensive rebounds and we get that kind of shots up…Southern Utah is not easy to turnover, so we missed that one. But when we shoot 33 percent from the arc, we get up 58 3s and we are crashing the boards, good things happen for us. We liked the numbers tonight.”
The loss ends Southern Utah’s season at 4-25. The Thunderbirds shot 49.3 percent, including 53.1 percent after halftime and scored a season-high point total. Junior Jessica Richardson scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, senior Ashleigh Munns hit five 3-pointers and scored 15 points, four Thunderbirds scored in triple figures but Sac State’s 31 second-chance points were too much to overcome.
“When you play Sac State, you have to take away the 3-point shot or the offensive rebounds and we didn’t do either today,” SUU head coach Chris Boettcher said. “They just out-worked us. I was proud of how hard we worked but with that style of play, we couldn’t chase down the long rebounds or contain them.”
Sacramento State set Big Sky Tournament records for points scored, 3-pointers made and attempted, shots attempted and offensive rebounds in a single game. Sac sophomore Maranne Johnson scored a career-high 31 points by hitting a tournament record seven 3-pointers on a tournament record 18 attempts.
“This (style) is amazing and I’m playing with a great set of girls,” Johnson said. “I feel like we work really well together. Even if the ball isn’t going in, we always have each other’s backs. This style is very fun and I enjoy it a lot.”
With Brianna Burgos, Sac’s second-leading scorer, on the shelf after tearing her ACL in her team’s final regular-season game, Johnson, junior Gretchen Harrigan and senior Ericka Magana rose to the occasion. Harrigan hit all four of her 3-pointers during a run that saw Sac turn a 31-26 deficit into a 43-35 lead. Harrigan finished with 17 points and Magana hit four 3-pointers on her way to 18 points.
“With Brianna out, I felt I had to step up a little more and shoot as much as possible,” Johnson said. “I knew my team would have my back crashing the boards.”
Sac State senior point guard Adella Randle-El continued her stellar season. The first-team All-Big Sky selection finished shy of a triple-double. She knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 20 points to go with nine rebounds and nine assists. She also had five of Sac’s 12 steals.
“This is how complicated our strategy is: with a lead at the end of games, we want to get the ball to Adella and get out of the way and if you’re open, she’ll get it back to you and if not, she will take over,” Harkleroad said. “She has done so many good things this year and continues to get better.”
With Sacramento State clinging to a 45-44 lead, Johnson took over down the stretch in the first half. She hit back-to-back triples as Sac ended the first half on a 9-2 run and a 53-46 lead.
Richardson hit a bucket to cut the Sac lead to 58-52 before the Hornets ripped off 12 straight to open up a double-digit lead. Johnson scored eight of her points during the stretch. The lead swelled to 74-54 on Sydonia Daniels’ layup with 3:34 left in the third quarter, the largest of the game.
“At halftime, we talked about moving the ball around and looking for great shots,” Johnson said. “We are passed up some shots for the best shot. If it didn’t go in, we were there to rebound it.”
Johnson scored Sac’s final seven points to ensure a record-breaking night. The tournament victory marks the second straight season Sac State has posted a postseason win. The Hornets take on second-seeded Eastern Washington at 5:35 p.m. PST on Wednesday. The Eagles swept the Hornets during the regular season.
“Playing (EWU) for the third time, it’s going to be a really good time,” Randle-El said. “We just have to come out and play the whole 40 minutes. We have to play defense first and our offense will come.”
