SACRAMENTO -- Senior Kahlaijah Dean finished with a Sacramento State career-high 31 points to lead four players in double figures and the Hornets continued their monster start to the 2022-23 season thanks to an 82-74 victory over league rival Eastern Washington on Saturday afternoon at The Nest.
Sacramento State improved to 12-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play, surpassing the 2013-14 squad for the best start in school history and winning its first three Big Sky contests for the first time since joining the league in 1996-97. The 12 victories are just two shy of last year's total when the Hornets finished 14-16 overall in Head Coach Mark Campbell's first season.
Saturday's victory was also the sixth straight for Sacramento State, matching its six-game run earlier in the year and marking the first time in the program's Division I history that the Hornets have had two winning streaks of at least six games in the same season. The last time Sacramento State had a pair of six-game winning streaks was during the 1984-85 season when it closed out the campaign by winning 14 of its last 15 overall, posting runs of eight consecutive victories from Jan. 4-29 and six straight to end the year from Feb. 5-Feb. 18.
Eastern Washington, which finished with five players in double figures led by Jaydia Martin's 21 points, fell to 8-5 overall and 1-3 in league play.
Fresh off a 26-point explosion on Thursday against Idaho, Dean did herself five better on Saturday, hitting 10-of-17 from the field en route to her 31 points, eclipsing her previous career high in the green and gold of 28 points against Cal State Fullerton in the team's non-conference finale. Saturday's total fell just three points of Dean's collegiate career high of 34 points set at Central Michigan on Dec. 7 of last year while at Oakland University.
Dean hit 10-of-12 from the line, adding a pair of rebounds, and six assists to her stat line, collecting her sixth 20-point performance of the year and the first 30-point game by a Hornet since Lianna Tillman scored 35 points at Idaho on Feb. 24 last season.
Junior Isnelle Natabou collected her eighth double-double of the season, finishing with 13 points and 15 rebounds — the latter her second-highest total of the year behind only her 20 rebounds in the season opener against UC Irvine — while notching her 20th consecutive double-digit scoring game.
Senior Kaylin Randhawa tied her Sacramento State career high with 17 points on 5-of-10 from the field, matching her high set in an overtime win against UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 19, and adding four rebounds. The performance pushed her past the 1,000 point mark for her career after the Turlock, Calif., native scored 524 points in three years at Pacific, 345 last season at Utah State, and 135 this season in the green and gold. Freshman Madison Butcher wrapped up the quartet of double-digit scorers for the Hornets, finishing with a career-high 11 points thanks to a trio of three-pointers.
The 82 points by Sacramento State was a season high, surpassing the 73 points scored in a win at Santa Clara on Nov. 14 and the most by a Hornet offense since an 82-76 win over the Eagles back on Jan. 28, 2021. Sacramento State shot .521 percent from the field, including a 78 percent clip in the third quarter — the fourth time this season that the Hornets have shot better than 50 percent in a game and the first since shooting .525 at Cal Poly on Nov. 25.
Sacramento State never trailed by more than a point in a contest that featured six lead changes in the first three minutes of the game before the Hornets closed the first quarter on an 13-6 run to take a six-point lead after the first 10 minutes.
Neither team was able to stretch the lead too much from there on out as the second quarter saw Sacramento State lead by as many as eight, but the Eagles hung close, getting to within a point with 3:34 remaining in the first half before the Hornets scored 10 of the final 13 points — including a pair of three-pointers from Butcher — to lead 37-29 at the break.
Dean scored on a drive to start the second half to make it a 10-point game before EWU answered with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to four just 90 seconds in. The Eagles remaining within single digits, eventually trailing by five midway through the third before Sacramento State found a groove as Dean converted an "and one" to spark a 9-0 burst from the Hornets and ballooning the advantage to 14 points at 54-40 with 2:55 remaining.
Eastern Washington then made things interesting down the stretch, using a 9-3 run in the final two minutes to get to within five points with 31 seconds to play, but Dean hit two from the line to stop the bleeding and Sacramento State finished 7-of-8 from the line in the final 30 seconds to ice the victory.
The Hornets take to the road next week for two more in Big Sky play, opening at Northern Colorado on Thursday (Jan. 12) at 5 p.m. PT, before heading to Flagstaff, Ariz., to take on Northern Arizona on Saturday (Jan. 14) at 1 p.m. PT.
IN THE BONUS: Saturday's win marked the third straight in the series with the Eagles and the third in the last four meetings in The Nest… The 23 wins against EWU are the most for the Hornets against any current Big Sky member, breaking a tie with the 22 victories against Portland State… The win was the fifth straight at home for Sacramento State — its longest home winning streak since the end of the 2014-15 season… Dean's 31 points allowed her to cross 1,700 points for her career, ending the weekend with 1,707 in her collegiate career… The Hornets have not trailed by more than four points at any point during their current six-game winning streak… The 31 points marked Dean's fourth career 30-point game — three of those at Oakland University and her first with Sacramento State on Saturday… The Hornets are 11-1 this year when leading at the half… Sacramento State is 6-1 on Saturdays this year.
