SACRAMENTO -- Senior Kahlaijah Dean finished with a team-high 26 points and sophomore Katie Peneueta added a double-double to go with seven blocked shots as Sacramento State used a big second half to pull away for a 71-56 victory over Idaho on Thursday night at The Nest.
The victory pushed the Hornets to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in Big Sky Conference play — only the third time in the history of the program that they have started league play with two straight wins joining the 2011-12 and 2013-14 seasons. The 11 wins in their first 13 games also matches the 2013-14 squad for the best start in school history.
Led by a game-high 30 points from freshman Rosa Smith, the Vandals fell to 6-8 overall and 2-1 in league play. Beyonce Bea, who entered the night leading the league in scoring at 22.8 ppg, was held well under her average on Thursday, limited to just 10 points on 4-of-19 shooting and nine rebounds.
Dean sank 10 baskets, including all six of her attempts from the line, en route to her team-high total, adding nine rebounds and four assists. It was her fifth 20-point performance of the year and her second in her last three games after scoring a Sacramento State career-high 28 points in a road win at Cal State Fullerton to close non-conference play.
Peneueta, meanwhile, logged her third double-double of the season, finishing with 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds, but it was her presence on the defensive end that was key as the Vancouver, Wash., native finished with seven blocked shots — six of those against Bea — to rank tied for third on the school's all-time single-game list with four other players.
The last Hornet to block seven shots was Kennedy Nicholas at Weber State on Feb. 20, 2019, while Megan Kritscher did it twice against Southern Utah (Feb. 2, 2013) and Fresno Pacific (Dec. 1, 2011), and Natasha Torgerson accomplished the feat against UC Davis in 2010. The record is held by Heidi Carroll, who blocked 10 shots against San Francisco State on Feb. 21, 1983, while Kritscher finished with eight against Eastern Illinois on Dec. 7, 2012.
Facing multiple defenders for most of the night, junior Isnelle Natabou collected her 19th consecutive double-digit scoring performance with 14 points and seven rebounds, hitting 6-of-10 from the field, while senior Kaylin Randhawa added 13 points and a Sac State career high-tying five rebounds, including a pair of key three-pointers in the fourth quarter that turned a two-point game into a 10-point lead.
Redshirt freshman Benthe Versteeg grabbed a career-high eight rebounds to go with four points and a pair of steals, while senior Jordan Olivares added three points to round out the scorers.
Following a first half that saw 10 ties and 10 lead changes, the two teams went toe-to-toe as Idaho eventually built a four-point lead midway through the third quarter thanks to a 10-3 burst — eight of those points off the hand of Smith, who was 10-of-17 from the field for the game. Versteeg scored inside and Randhawa drained a jumper to tie the game at 40, but a three-pointer from Smith regained the lead for the Vandals, but it was short-lived.
Versteeg scored again inside and Natabou hit back-to-back baskets to build a three-point lead before Smith answered with another of her five three's on the night to tie the score once again at 46-all with two minutes remaining in the third.
Natabou and Bea traded baskets and Dean hit a pair from the line just before the end of the quarter for a two-point advantage heading to the fourth, where Randhawa drained the Hornets' first three-pointer of the night from the right corner to make it a five-point game. Dean hit a jumper and Randhawa hit another from distance to cap a 10-0 run as Sacramento State went up 58-48 with 6:52 remaining and the Hornets never looked back.
Idaho could get no closer than seven points the rest of the way, limited to just eight points on 2-of-12 from the floor in the final 10 minutes as Sacramento State led by as many as 17 points en route to the win.
The Hornets shot just over 48 percent from the field — including 60 percent or better in the middle two quarters on a combined 17-for-28 from the field — and out-rebounded the Vandals, 47-21, for the game. The 21 rebounds allowed were the fewest in the program's Division I era.
Sacramento State closes the weekend on Saturday (Jan. 7) with a 2 p.m. tip against Eastern Washington, which defeated Portland State, 65-56, on Thursday night in Portland, Ore.
IN THE BONUS: The 71 points in Thursday night's win are the second-most for Sacramento State this season, trailing only the 73 scored in a win at Santa Clara on Nov. 14… It marked only the fourth time this year that the Hornets have scored 70-or-more points in a game… After scoring eight points in the first quarter, Sacramento State scored 21 points in each of the final three quarters… Five of Natabou's seven rebounds were on the offensive glass, marking the seventh time this year that she has grabbed five-or-more offensive rebounds in a game and the fifth time this year that she has had more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds… Dean scored 12 of her 26 in the second quarter, the seventh time she has scored 10-or-more points in a single quarter this year and her second-highest single-quarter total behind only her 14-point third period at Santa Clara… Of Peneueta's perfect 4-for-4 shooting night, only one was a three-pointer, after entering the night with only five two-pointers to her name in 34 career games... Sacramento State is 10-1 when leading at the half this year (led 29-28 on Thursday)… The Hornets now have a win on every day of the week except Sunday (only because they haven't played on a Sunday).
