SACRAMENTO -- Senior guard Kahlaijah Dean has been named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season following a career game in the green and gold at Cal State Fullerton to close out non-conference play.
Dean becomes the fourth Hornet to be named the league's player of the week in the last six weeks, earning her first honor since Nov. 22. When you add in junior Isnelle Natabou's awards on Nov. 29 and Dec. 13, Sacramento State now has a league-high four player of the week awards this season, matching the team's total from last year and marking the most since the 2013-14 squad had five winners.
The Bakersfield, Calif., native tallied her fourth 20-point performance of the season in the Hornets' 67-55 victory over the Titans, finishing with a game-high 28 points thanks to nine baskets and a perfect 8-for-8 from the line — the latter ending up tied for 10th on the school's Division I single-game free throw percentage list.
Dean's 28 points eclipsed her previous Sacramento State career high of 27 points set at Santa Clara (Nov. 14) and against UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 19) and were the most for a Hornet in a single-game since last year's Big Sky MVP Lianna Tillman finished with 35 at Idaho on Feb. 24 of last year.
She added five rebounds, a pair of steals, two assists, and a block to her statline, moving up to second in the Big Sky in scoring (18.7 ppg) while also ranking second in the league in field goal percentage (.489), assists per game (4.7 apg), and minutes (35.9 mpg). Dean scored 10 of her 28 against the Titans in the fourth quarter alone, marking the fifth time this year that she has scored 10-or-more points in a single quarter this year.
Last week's win over Cal State Fullerton put the Hornets at 9-2 entering Big Sky play, breaking a tie with the 2013-14 squad that posted eight non-conference victories en route to an 18-win season. It was the team's third consecutive win and its ninth in the last 10.
Sacramento State opens conference play with a single game this week, heading to the Pacific Northwest to take on Portland State on Saturday (Dec. 31) at 2 p.m.
