SACRAMENTO -- Fresh off its first victory of the season, the Sacramento State women's basketball returns to the friendly confines of The Nest this weekend, hosting an unbeaten UC Santa Barbara squad on Saturday (Nov. 19) at 7:30 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
GAME #3
WHAT: UC Santa Barbara (3-0) at Sacramento State (1-1)
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
STADIUM: The Nest
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in Sacramento State athletics by following us on Facebook (/SacramentoStateAthletics), Twitter (@HornetSports), and Instagram (@sacstateathletics). You can also follow the Hornets' women's basketball program on all three platforms at the handle @SacStateWBB.
IN THE RANKINGS: Neither Sacramento State, nor UC Santa Barbara are ranked nationally entering the 2022-23 season... The Gauchos are among those receiving votes in the Nov. 15 College Insider mid-major poll.
HORNETS PICKED FIFTH TO START 2022-23: Sacramento State was picked to finish fifth in the Big Sky Conference standings according to a vote of both the league's head coaches and the media released by the conference office on Oct. 26. The Hornets, who finished seventh a season ago, received 146 points and a first-place vote in the media poll, while picking up 46 points in the coaches' poll. Montana State, which finished tied for second in the regular season and won the Big Sky Tournament title, was picked atop both polls, earning nine of the 10 first-place votes from the coaches, and 24 first-place votes from the media that cover the league.
BIG SKY HIGH: The Hornets' fifth-place prediction is the highest for the program since Sacramento State was picked to finish third in both the coaches and media polls prior to the 2015-16 campaign, after winning 18 games and advancing to the third round of the WNIT the season prior. The Hornets actually finished tied for second in the 2015-16 coaches poll with former member North Dakota, but the Fighting Hawks received one first-place vote to win the "tiebreaker."
NATABOU ON MID-MAJOR AWARD WATCH LIST: One season after showing she's one of the best in the West, junior post Isnelle Natabou is garnering national attention heading into the 2022-23 campaign, named as one of 25 players to the watch list for the 2023 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats on Oct. 19. The first Big Sky Conference student-athlete ever to be named to the list for this particular award, Natabou is joined by 24 of her peers on the initial watch list and is only one of four from the West Coast named to the list along with Gonzaga's Brynna Maxwell, Portland's Alex Fowler, and San Francisco's Ioanna Kimili. For more details, read the complete release on HornetSports.com.
NATABOU NAMED TO BIG SKY'S PRESEASON HONOR ROLL: In addition to her national honor, Natabou was also named to the seven-member preseason all-conference team, joining Montana State's Darian White (who also was selected the MVP), Idaho's Beyonce Bea, Montana's Carmen Gfeller, Northern Colorado's Hannah Simental, Montana State's Kola Bad Bear, and Weber State's Daryn Hickock. The native of the Czech Republic became only the third Hornet to earn preseason all-league honors in the process, joining former standouts Kennedy Nicholas (2019-20) and Brianna Burgos (2016-17).
BUT WAIT... THERE'S MORE!: The accolades continued to roll in for Natabou, who was also named the Big Sky's Preseason Player of the Year according to ESPN.com, which made its picks for all 32 Division I conferences on Oct. 25.
ABOUT THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara enters the weekend with a 3-0 overall record following a 54-52 win over Idaho State on Tuesday night (Nov. 15)... Prior to Tuesday, the Gauchos posted wins over Santa Clara (73-61) and Pepperdine (71-63) as UCSB has opened 3-0 for the first time since 1999... Center Ila Lane leads the Gauchos in scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounding (10.0 rpg), shooting .667 (18-for-27) from the field... Guard Alexis Tucker is also in double figures, averaging 10.0 ppg.
SERIES NOTES: Saturday marks only the eighth all-time meeting between the Hornets and the Gauchos, with UC Santa Barbara leading Sacramento State in the series, 4-3... The Gauchos defeated the Hornets, 66-58, last season on the Central Coast -- the first meeting between the two programs as Division I members and the first time overall since a 70-61 Sacramento State win in 1988... This is only the second meeting between the two in Sacramento as three of the games have been played in Santa Barbara and three more on neutral courts.
WHO SHOT OUT THE LIGHTS?: Sacramento State's performance from the field on Monday night certainly dimmed the hopes of host Santa Clara winning the contest as the Hornets hit on nearly 54 percent from the field in their 10-point victory. The .537 field goal percentage was the team's highest since shooting 29-for-48 (.604) at Northern Arizona on Feb. 3 of last season and marked the sixth time in the team's last seven games dating back to last year that Sacramento State has shot better than 40 percent from the field.
PUT A LID ON IT: Meanwhile, at the other end of the floor, the Hornets' defense has been downright stingy, holding opponents to under 40% from the floor in each of their first two games. Sacramento State limited UC Irvine to just .307 overall in the season opener on Nov. 12, which was the the lowest by a Hornet opponent since Eastern Washington shot just .292 on Jan. 20 last season, while the 19 percent (4-21) from beyond the arc by the Anteaters was the lowest since Montana shot just .129 from long distance on March 8, 2021.
YOU'VE MADE YOUR POINT(S): The 73 points against Santa Clara were the most by the Hornets since they put up the same number in a 73-62 win over Portland State on Feb. 5 last year.
TWO FOR 20: No, it's not the latest meal deal at your favorite eatery. Senior Kahlaijah Dean and junior Isnelle Natabou each surpassed the 20-point plateau in Monday's win at Santa Clara, finishing with 27 and 23 points, respectively to help pace the Hornet offense. The duo was a combined 21-for-29 (.724) in the game and marked the first time since Sacramento State faced Montana on March 4 of last season that the team finished with two players scoring at least 20 points (Natabou had 25 while LIanna Tillman added 21 more).
KILLER KAHLAIJAH: After finishing with eleven 20-point performances and three more with at least 30 points in her four years at Oakland, Dean found her groove in the green and gold against the Broncos as her 27 points were the most by a Hornet since 2022 Big Sky MVP Lianna Tillman had 35 at Idaho on Feb. 24 last season. Dean's total was only seven points shy of her collegiate best of 34 set at Central Michigan on Dec. 7, 2021, during her time with the Golden Grizzlies, while the 11 makes at Santa Clara were one shy of her collegiate best of 12 set at Youngstown State on Jan. 31, 2019.
GIVING NO QUARTER: Of Dean's 27 points against Santa Clara, 14 of those came in the third quarter alone -- the third time this season that a Hornet has finished with double-digit points in a single quarter. Natabou finished with 10 in the first period against UC Irvine on Nov. 12 and added 11 more in the opening 10 minutes against the Broncos on Monday night.
SHE SLICES, SHE DICES, SHE DISHES, SHE SCORES: Dean enters the week in rarified air, standing as the only player in the NCAA (as of Nov. 15) to average 20.5 ppg and 7.5 apg. The closest is Iowa's Caitlin Clark, who is averaging 24.7 ppg, but narrowly misses the mark at "only" 7.3 apg.
THE DEAN OF SCORING: Dean brings with her a pedigree of knowing where the basket is, reaching the 1,000 career point milestone as a junior at Oakland University and finishing her four years with the Golden Grizzlies with 1,425 points to her name. Following her first two performances in the green and gold, the Bakersfield, Calif., native has brought her total up to 1,466 career points, ranking No. 32 among active scorers across the country -- a total that would rank fifth on Sacramento State's all-time scoring list.
I'LL TAKE NATABOU FOR 20, ALEX: Her 23-point performance at Santa Clara marked her ninth career performance with at least 20 points. Who is Isnelle Natabou? Correct. Natabou finished the night against the Broncos 10-of-14 from the field and a perfect 3-of-3 from the line, adding seven rebounds en route to her best scoring night since finishing with 25 against Montana on March 4 of last year.
ARE YOU BOARD?: Natabou clearly wasn't in the Hornets' season opener against UC Irvine, as her 20 rebounds were the most since she had 22 against Idaho in an overtime win on Jan. 22 of last year and was her third career game with 20-or-more rebounds. Nationally, the 20-rebound performance is tied for the third-highest in the NCAA for a single-game -- and the most of any Big Sky Conference player -- as of Nov. 15, and stands as one of only seven 20-rebound games across the country entering the week.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE, NATABOU STYLE: Apparently, that's what Natabou's all about. The junior's 19-point, 20-rebound double-double against UC Irvine was the 16th of her career and her first since scoring 15 points and 14 rebounds at Southern Utah on Feb. 12 last year. In 2021-22, Natabou became the first Hornet to average a double-double in a season (14.7 ppg and 10.9 rpg) since Kennedy Nicholas did so in 2018-19 (13.0 ppg and 11.1 rpg) and finished the campaign with 15 double-doubles to her name (including a remarkable run of 10 straight from Jan. 15 to Feb. 12), a total that ranked No. 23 in the NCAA at the end of the year.
CENTER OF ATTENTION: Ranking tied for ninth in the NCAA in rebounding and tied for 40th in scoring as of Nov. 15, Natabou is one of only three players averaging at least 21.0 ppg and 13.5 rpg, joined by LSU forward Angel Reese (21.3 ppg and 14.3 rpg) and Northern Kentucky guard Lindsey Duvall (24.0 ppg and 14.0 rpg) thus far this season.
GOING BIG IN THE BIG SKY: Dean's 27 points are the most by a Big Sky Conference player entering the week (as of Nov. 14), while Natabou's 23 stand third -- two of only seven 20-point performances in the league in the early going. In addition, Dean's 11 field goals and Natabou's 10 makes against Santa Clara rank 1-2 in the conference, while Dean's nine assists against the Broncos are the second-most in the league.
THE PENEUETA IS MIGHTIER ON THE BOARDS: As if setting a career-high with eight rebounds in the season opener against UC Irvine (Nov. 12) wasn't enough, sophomore Katie Peneueta went and did herself two better two nights later at Santa Clara (Nov. 14), coralling a career-high 10 rebounds -- all on the defensive end -- as part of her first career double-double against the Broncos, adding 14 points in the Hornets' 10-point victory.
THREE IS MORE THAN TWO: And Katie Peneueta has certainly done the math. In 24 career games with the Hornets, the Vancouver, Wash., native has made a living from long distance, sinking 64 of her 68 career field goals from behind the three-point line. Entering the week, Peneueta's last 27 makes from the field have all been three-pointers as her last two-pointer came at Northern Arizona with 21 seconds remaining in a 76-62 Sacramento State victory on Feb. 3 of last year, finishing 7-of-10 from the floor overall and 6-of-8 from three-point range.
HELP ME, HELP YOU: Sharing is caring, and the Hornets cared a whole lot on Monday at Santa Clara, posting a season-high 17 assists on 29 makes from the field. It was the team's highest assist total in a single game since Sacramento State finished with 18 against Northern Colorado on Jan. 24 of last year.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB: Dean, Kaylin Randhawa, Erin Hedman, Madison Butcher, and Benthe Versteeg all scored their first career points in the green and gold on Nov. 12 against UC Irvine -- the latter two collecting the first collegiate points of their careers.
TURN AROUND: Every now and then we get a little bit nostalgic about the Hornets' turnaround in the win column in 2021-22, going from a three-win team two years ago to putting up one of the nation's best year-to-year improvements with 14 victories a season later. The 11-win improvement was a school record, besting the seven-win increase from 2003-04 (1-26) to 2004-05 (8-20) and trailed only 12-win improvements by Portland State, Montana State, and Weber State in their respective histories in the Big Sky annals. At the end of the year, Sacramento State's comeback was tied for seventh in the NCAA, trailing only LSU, Toledo, Kansas, USC Upstate, Utah, and Southern Illinois.
WINDEX WOMAN: Keeping the glass clean all season long in her Division I debut, Isnelle Natabou's work on the boards ranked among one of the top single-season performances in school history as her 328 rebounds were good for fourth on the school's chart, while her 10.9 rebounds per game ranked eighth. She is the first Hornet to average double-digit rebounds since Kennedy Nicholas in 2018-19 (11.1 rpg) while her 328 total rebounds were the most since Kylie Kuhns grabbed 342 in 2012-13.
CHAIRWOMAN OF THE BOARDS: Natabou's league-leading average made her the fourth different Hornet to lead the Big Sky in rebounding since Sacramento State joined the league and the first since Kennedy Nicholas in 2018-19 (11.1 rpg). Along with Natabou and Nicholas, Margaret Huntington (9.1 rpg, 2016-17) and Kylie Kuhns (11.1 rpg in 2010-11, 11.6 rpg in 2011-12, and 11.0 rpg in 2012-13) are the only other Hornets to pace the conference on glass.
THREE-CO-LA!: Sophomore Katie Peneueta's 56 makes from three-point range last season led the team and ranked tied for the seventh in the Big Sky Conference, while standing as the most by a Hornet in a single season since Maranne Johnson drained 79 from beyond the arc in 2017-18. Peneueta set a school single-season record by hitting .463 from distance, sinking all but four of her makes on the year from three-point range.
SWIPER, NO SWIPING: Senior Jordan Olivares enters the 2022-23 season as the team's active leader with 92 career steals, swiping 35 as a freshman, career-high 36 as a sophomore, and 21 last season as a junior. She has led or shared the team lead in steals in a game in 24 of 68 career appearances, including a career-high five twice against Northern Colorado (Jan. 16, 2020) and Portland State (Jan. 21, 2021).
NKOTB - NEW KID ON THE BENCH: The Sacramento State coaching staff remains intact for the 2022-23 campaign with one notable addition: Nyara Sabally, the No. 5 overall draft pick of the New York Liberty in the 2022 WNBA Draft, has joined the sidelines as an assistant. Sabally reunited with her former coaches and teammate at the University of Oregon after competing under Head Coach Mark Campbell and Associate Head Coach Xavi Lopez for three years with the Ducks from 2018-21, and playing alongside assistant coach Minyon Moore during the 2019-20 campaign. Read the full announcement of her hire at HornetSports.com.
STAY ON TARGET: The hot-shooting Hornets were one of the most efficient in program history in 2021-22 as the team's .434 field goal percentage is sixth on the school's single-season list, the .332 from beyond the arc as a squad is fourth, and the .718 from the line is sixth. Speaking of accuracy, Natabou's .643 field goal percentage not only led the league, but made her the first Hornet EVER to lead the Big Sky in field goal percentage.
DE-FENSE (CLAP, CLAP)... DE-FENSE (CLAP, CLAP): The Hornets locked down on the defensive end in 2021-22, improving their scoring defense by nearly 10 points per game from the 2020-21 campaign by surrendering an average of 65.6 points per contest last season. It marked the fewest points per game allowed in a single campaign since opponents averaged just 64.0 ppg against the 2004-05 squad.
TOWERS OF POWER: Things are looking up for Sacramento State women's basketball... and we mean that quite literally. The Hornets enter the 2022-23 season listing six players standing six-foot or taller -- the most since the 2006-07 team featured seven players at that height or above. This season, Sacramento State doesn't feature a player shorter than six-foot-one, while the 2006-07 squad featured only two players at that height or taller.
FUN WITH FLAGS: Sacramento State has gone global once again, as the Hornets' roster features four student-athletes from outside the United States: Benthe Versteeg (Netherlands), Akaysha Muggeridge (Australia) Irune Orio (Spain), and Isnelle Natabou (Czech Republic), while the bench features coaches from Barcelona, Spain (Associate Head Coach Xavi Lopez), Berlin, Germany (Assistant Coach Nyara Sabally), and Osnabruck, Germany (student assistant Emily Enochs).
STATE OF MIND: Outside of Sacramento State's four international student-athletes, the Hornets' roster also features five native Californians and three players from outside the "Golden State in Solape Amusan (Woodbury, Minn.), Katie Peneueta (Vancouver, Wash.), and Erin Hedman (New Berlin, Wisc.). Peneueta is the first Washingtonian to suit up in the green and gold since Kennedy Nicholas (Kirkland), while Hedman is the first Wisconsinite since Adella Randle-El (Racine). Amusan, however, is the first Minnesotan in the program's Division I history, which has featured representatives from 22 states in that span.
A "GOLDEN" OPPORTUNITY: For the second consecutive season, the Causeway battle with rival UC Davis will have a slightly different look to it as the Hornets and the Aggies will take the floor at the Golden 1 Center -- home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings -- on Nov. 22 at 5 p.m., in the first game of a doubleheader with the two school's men's teams. Last year, UC Davis took the first meeting between the two at the Golden 1 Center, 75-46.
