SACRAMENTO — The reigning Big Sky Conference regular season and tournament champion Sacramento State women's basketball team officially tips off the 2023-24 season on the road this week, heading to the Pacific Northwest to take on Washington on Monday (Nov. 6) at 5:30 p.m.
THIS WEEK…
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Washington
GAME #1
WHAT: Sacramento State (0-0) at (RV/NR) Washington (0-0)
WHEN: Monday, Nov. 6, 2023
TIME: 5:30 p.m. PT
WHERE: Seattle, Wash.
ARENA: Alaska Airlines Arena
WATCH: Pac-12 Network Live Stream
LIVE STATS: GoHuskies.com
TIP-OFF
• Monday's contest officially marks the start of the Aaron Kallhoff era at Sacramento State after taking the reins of the program in April of 2023 as the seventh head coach in the program's Division I history
• Tip-off time for Monday's game has been moved back an hour from the previously scheduled 6:30 p.m. to better serve as the opening game of a doubleheader with the Huskies' men's team, which takes on Bellarmine at 8:30 p.m.
• Outside of their yearly home-and-home with Eastern Washington in conference play, Monday marks the Hornets' first trip to the "Evergreen State" for a non-conference contest since an 88-84 loss at SeattleU on Dec. 6, 2019
• Sacramento State is 29-54 all-time against schools from the state of Washington and is 13-23 in games played within the state
IN THE RANKINGS
• Washington is among a group of 15 schools receiving votes in the preseason Associated Press Top 25, picking up two votes to start the year
• Sacramento State in unranked to begin the year
• The Hornets finished 2022-23 ranked No. 22 in the final College Insider Mid-Major poll, but are unranked in that poll to start the 2023-24 campaign
• Sacramento State is scheduled to face four teams listed in the preseason College Insider poll (as of Nov. 1), all among those receiving votes and three of those during Big Sky Conference play: Eastern Washington (50 votes), Northern Arizona (4), UC Davis (3), and Montana (1)
IRON SHARPENS IRON
• The Hornets' 2023-24 schedule features three schools that reached the postseason Women's NIT a year ago: San Diego State (1st Round), Northern Arizona (1st Round), and Washington (National Semifinals)
• This year's slate of games also features a pair of opponents that finished in the top 100 of the NCAA's NET rankings in Washington (No. 63) and San Diego State (No. 93), as well as four others that finished in the top 150: Montana State (No. 120), Northern Arizona (No. 122), Eastern Washington (No. 132), and Santa Clara (No. 138)
• For comparison, Sacramento State stood No. 87 in the final NCAA NET rankings
NKOTB - NEW KIDS ON THE BENCH
• Joining first-year head coach Aaron Kallhoff on the bench are assistant coaches De'Audra Brown, Jodi Page, and Asha Thomas, along with Director of Operations Elexus Trenkle and Director of Player Development -- and former Hornet -- Kaylin Randhawa
• Brown joins the staff after helping Hawai'i to a Big West Tournament title and NCAA berth in 2022-23 following five years as an assistant at New Mexico State, where she helped the Aggies to a pair of WAC titles and a league tournament crown
• Page joins the staff after a season at UNC Greensboro in 2022-23, along with stops at New Mexico State, Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State, and Eastern Washington, as well as 20 years coaching in her native Australia
• Thomas enters her first Division I post following a standout playing career at California, where she was an All-Pac-12 selection and helped the Golden Bears to three 20-win seasons and three NCAA Tournament berths
• Trenkle comes to Sacramento after serving as the men's basketball director of operations at Tarleton in 2022-23 and a graduate assistant for the Texans in 2021-22
• Randhawa wrapped up her collegiate career with the Hornets in 2022-23, averaging 9.2 points and 2.8 rebounds while ranking second on the team with 73 assists. She is currently completing her studies to earn her teaching credential at Sacramento State
THE COACHES
• Sacramento State's Aaron Kallhoff is in his first season at the helm of the Hornets. He has served five previous seasons as a head coach at the junior college level and spent 10 years as an assistant at five Division I programs: Arkansas State, TCU, LSU, Penn State, and BYU.
• Washington's Tina Langley is in her third season as head coach of the Huskies, posting a 26-31 record in her previous two seasons -- including a 19-win campaign in 2022-23. Prior to her arrival in Seattle, she spent six seasons at Rice, helping the Owls to five postseason appearances.
ABOUT THE HUSKIES
• Washington is coming off a 2022-23 season that saw the Huskies finish 19-15 overall and 7-11 in the Pac-12
• After falling to Oregon in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament, Washington advanced to the "Final Four" of the Women's NIT, posting wins over San Francisco, New Mexico, Kansas State, and Oregon, before falling to Kansas
• The Huskies return seven players off of last season's squad, four of whom are sophomores, to go along with four upperclassmen and four newcomers
• Junior forward Dalayah Daniels was the team's leading scorer last season, averaging 11.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, while shooting nearly 50 percent from the field
• Washington features a pair of Sacramento natives on its roster: sophomore guard Teagan Brown played at Oak Ridge HS while Nia Lowery, who missed all of 2022-23 with an injury, prepped at CK McClatchy
SERIES NOTABLES
• Monday marks the fourth-ever meeting between Sacramento State and Washington, which leads the series, 2-1
• The Hornets won the last meeting, 74-71, in Seattle on Nov. 29, 2009, behind 19 points from Charday Hunt, 17 from Erika Edwards, and 11 more from Ashley Garcia off the bench
• Prior to that meeting, the Hornets and Huskies hadn't met since the 1977-78 and 1978-79 seasons, with Washington winning the first on a neutral court, 69-60, and winning the second in Sacramento, 63-61
CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is 13-34 against current Pac-12 members according to records dating back to 1969-70
• The Hornets have faced 10 of the league's current 12 schools: Arizona (0-1), Arizona State (0-2), California (6-6), Oregon (1-1), Oregon State (2-6), Stanford (3-2), UCLA (0-8), USC (0-5), Washington (1-2), and Washington State (0-1)
• Sacramento State has lost their last 11 consecutive meetings against Pac-12 opponents dating back to a 97-85 victory over Oregon in Eugene, Ore., on Nov. 17, 2013
• Monday marks the fifth consecutive road game against a Pac-12 opponent, having not hosted a game against that conference since welcoming USC on Dec. 3, 2016
• The Hornets are a combined 5-19 on the road against Pac-12 opponents
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS
• The defending champion Hornets were picked to finish ninth in the Big Sky preseason coaches poll with 24 points, standing one point back of Idaho in eighth, eight behind Idaho State in seventh, and 11 points ahead of Weber State in 10th
• Sacramento State was picked to finish sixth by the media members that cover the league, garnering 149 points and a pair of first-place votes
• Since 2005-06, no defending Big Sky champion has been ranked lower in the next season's preseason coaches poll than the Hornets this year (-8 spots). Idaho State won in 2021-22 and was picked eighth in 2022-23 and Southern Utah shared the title with North Dakota in 2013-14 and was picked seventh in 2014-15
"HELLO, MY NAME IS..."
• Sacramento State welcomes nine new faces to the roster for 2023-24, adding eight freshmen and a junior college transfer to the rolls
• The nine newcomers are the most since the 2014-15 roster featured nine new faces: four freshmen and five junior college transfers
• The eight freshmen are the most on a roster in a single season in the program's Division I history (since 1991-92)
SO FRESH, SO CLEAN
• The nine newcomers to the roster are among the most in the nation according to a preseason survey of schools, ranking tied for ninth among those that responded
• Among those same schools, Sacramento State's eight freshmen are the most in the NCAA, edging out Coastal Carolina and Buffalo, which have six apiece.
LID-LIFTERS
• Since records are available dating back to the 1973-74 season, the Hornets are 16-34 all time in season openers and 7-25 in the program's Division I era (since 1991-92)
• Monday marks the fourth time in the last five seasons that Sacramento State will open the season on the road
• The Hornets have lost each of their last four regular season openers against Nevada (83-72) in 2019, Idaho (97-73) in 2020, California (90-71) in 2021, and UC Irvine (60-58) in 2022
• Sacramento State and Washington have never met in a season opener
• Monday marks the eighth time that the Hornets have opened a season against a Pac-12 opponent, going 2-5 in the previous seven with wins over Oregon State and California in 1974 and 1977, respectively
• Sacramento State last opened against a Pac-12 opponent in 2021, falling at California by a 90-71 score
• The Hornets are 5-22 when opening the season on the road, losing their last five dating back to a 95-86 win at Utah State to tip-off the 2015-16 season
REMEMBERING A SPECIAL SEASON
• Sacramento State finished a memorable 2022-23 season with a 25-8 overall record and a 13-5 mark in Big Sky Conference play
• The 25 wins were the most in a single season by either the men's or women's programs in school history
• The Hornets claimed a share of the school's first-ever conference regular season title, the school's first league tournament title, and earned the school's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth as the No. 13 seed at No. 4 UCLA
• Sacramento State finished the year ranked No. 22 in the final College Insider Mid-Major poll and No. 87 in the final NCAA NET rankings
• Head Coach Mark Campbell (who accepted a similar position at TCU on March 21) earned a share of the league's Coach of the Year award, guard Kahlaijah Dean was named the conference's MVP and Newcomer of the Year, and Dean joined Isnelle Natabou (now at Iowa State) on the All-Big Sky first team
MAKING OURSELVES AT HOME
• Of the team's 29 regular season games, 16 of those will be played at the Nest
• When you include the exhibition against Jessup, 10 of the team's first 14 games will be at home
• The nine regular season home contests in the first 14 games overall are the most since the 1996-97 squad played 10 in the same span
• The seven regular season non-conference home games are the most since the 2002-03 team played eight before the start of league
• Sacramento State was 11-2 at home in 2022-23, just one shy of the win total from the three previous seasons combined and the most since the 2014-15 team finished 11-3 at The Nest -- the last in a run of three-straight seasons with 10-or-more home victories: 11-2 in 2012-13, 13-2 in 2013-14, 11-3 in 2014-15
WORLDWIDE LEADER
• Of Sacramento State's 15-member roster for 2023-24, seven of those players hail from outside the United States
• The seven international players are tied for the third-most by any school in the nation according to a preseason survey of programs, trailing only South Florida (12) and McNeese State (9)
• The seven players are tied with the rosters from California, Buffalo, Middle Tennessee, and Santa Clara
• The Hornets' roster represents six different countries (United States, Germany, Spain, Australia, The Netherlands, and France), which ranks behind only South Florida (10) and Vermont (7)
UNITED STATES OF SACRAMENTO
• In addition to the student-athletes from six different countries, this year's edition of the Hornets also hail from four different states
• Alongside the four native Californians (Kaylie Edge, Madison Butcher, Seilala Lautaimi, and Sophia Lee), Sacramento State features natives of Illinois (Ayanna Jackson), Minnesota (Solape Amusan), and North Carolina (J'yana Salton)
HORNETS VERSUS THE WORLD
• Sophomore Kaylie Edge and freshman Sofia Alonso carried the Sacramento State flag into international competition over the summer
• Edge, who holds dual citizenship in the United States and Great Britain, was one of 12 players to make the final cut for the FIBA Division B U20 Women's European Championship in Romania
• Edge finished second on the team in scoring while playing 21 minutes per contest, including a 23-point effort in a win over Ukraine and a double-digit performance against Switzerland in group play
• Alonso represented Spain at the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Cup in Hungary
• She shared the team lead in scoring with 18 points, scoring a team-high eight points against Ukraine and five more against Morocco, ranking tied for 34th in the 20-team event
I'VE GOT THE POWER (5)!
• After ending the 2022-23 season against a "Power 5" conference school in UCLA to tip-off the NCAA Tournament, the Hornets open 2023-24 against another "Power 5" opponent in Washington
• Sacramento State is a combined 15-58 against "Power 5" opponents according to available records dating back to 1969-70, and a combined 5-52 during the program's Division I era (since 1991-92)
• As a Division I program, the Hornets' own "Power 5" wins over No. 20 Texas (88-85) in 1994, Washington (74-71) in 2009, Oregon State (80-71) in 2012, Oregon (97-85) in 2013, and Illinois (109-107) in 2018
• Sacramento State is a combined 0-5 against the ACC, 1-3 against the Big Ten, 1-13 against the Big 12, 13-34 against the Pac-12, and 0-3 against the SEC
• The Hornets have lost their last three meetings with "Power 5" schools -- Ohio State in 2019, California in 2021, and UCLA in 2023 -- dating back to their shootout win over the Illini in 2018
TURN AROUND
• Every now and then we get a little nostalgic about the Hornets' turnaround in the win column for the second straight season
• Sacramento State's nine-and-a-half game improvement from 2021-22 (14-16) to 2022-23 (25-8) was tied for the 13th best in the nation after last season along with James Madison and UMBC
• That followed an 11-game turn around in the win column that saw the Hornets go from three wins in 2020-21 to 14 in 2021-22, setting a school record and trailing only 12-win improvements by Portland State, Montana State, and Weber State in the Big Sky annals.
• That comeback was tied for seventh in the NCAA in 2021-22 along with LSU, Toledo, Kansas, USC Upstate, Utah, and Southern Illinois
THE RIVALRY RETURNS HOME
• After a two-year hiatus played under the lights at the Golden 1 Center, the Causeway rivalry between Sacramento State and UC Davis returns to campus in 2023 as the Hornets host the Aggies on Nov. 21 at The Nest
• The Hornets lit up the Golden 1 Center to the tune of a 67-45 victory over the Aggies in 2022-23 -- their first win in the series since 2015
• The 45 points were also the fewest in the rivalry for UC Davis since 2008
• The Aggies won the first meeting between the two at the home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings in 2021-22 by the score of 75-46
• This marks the first on-campus meeting between the two since a 77-75 UC Davis win in Davis in 2019, and the first meeting at The Nest since 2018, also won by the Aggies
SHOOTING FOR THE STARS
• The Hornets' record-setting season didn't end with the win column as they put up numbers that set a number of all-time marks in 2022-23
• Sacramento State set single-season team records for field goal (.465) and three-point (.385) percentage
• Last year's team also ranked fourth in free throw percentage (.726), fifth in three-pointers made (293), fifth in blocks (114), sixth in points (2,261), and ninth in field goals made (809) in the school record books
FROM OFFENSE TO DEFENSE
• Last year's offense saw the Hornets score 2,261 points -- the most since the 2016-17 team finished with 2,471 points
• The point total marked the 12th time in the last 14 seasons that Sacramento State topped the 2,000-point plateau as a team
• Meanwhile, at the other end of the floor, the Hornets' scoring defense allowed the second-fewest points (59.9 ppg) in school history, trailing only the 1984-85 team that allowed 56.8 ppg
GOING SOLO
• Fifth-year senior Solape Amusan is the team's leading returning scorer after averaging 4.8 points and shooting 41 percent from the field a season ago
• Amusan made her impact on the starting lineup in the second half of the 2022-23 season, starting eight of the final 17 games
• As a starter, Amusan averaged 11.6 points per game, shot .441 (30-for-68) overall, and .446 (25-for-56) from beyond the arc in her eight starts
• She reached double figures five times in that span, including a Sacramento State career-high 19 points at Montana and 18 more against Montana State two nights later, hitting 12-of-24 (.500) in that stretch
• Amusan's previous collegiate best was 15 points against Northwestern while with Illinois in 2021
SUMMAH, SUMMAH, SUMMAH TIME!
• Playing in her first game in the green and gold -- albeit an exhibition -- freshman Summah Hanson shined in her debut, finishing with a team-high 16 points and nine rebounds while adding a pair of blocks
• Her 16 points came on 6-of-12 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers in just over 38 minutes on the floor
GOED WERK BENTHE!
• Sophomore Benthe Versteeg also showed out in the team's exhibition against Jessup, sharing team-high honors with Hanson after scoring 16 points, adding five rebounds and four assists
• She hit 5-of-9 from the field, including a three-pointer, and made all five of her free throw attempts
• Had it not been an exhibiton, the 16 points would have been a career high, breaking her previous best of 13 set against UC Davis at the Golden 1 Center last year
