SACRAMENTO — Freshman Summah Hanson finished with a game-high 20 points and added 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the year while sophomore Irune Orio tallied a career-high 16 points, helping lift the Sacramento State women's basketball team to its first win of the year, 58-48, over visiting CSUN on Saturday afternoon at The Nest.
The victory was also head coach Aaron Kallhoff's first as a Division I head coach as the Hornets shot 41 percent from the field and limited the Matadors to just 33 percent from the floor for the contest.
Hanson tallied her second career 20-point performance, falling just shy of her career high of 22 points set at Nevada on Nov. 9, and matched her career high with her 11 boards, giving the freshman her fourth career double-double in the green and gold. Hanson finished 8-of-16 from the floor, including a pair of three pointers, adding three steals to her final stat line.
Orio, meanwhile, exploded offensively en route to her first career double-digit scoring performance, doubling her previous career best of eight points set twice earlier this year. Her 16 points came on 7-of-18 from the field, adding a pair of three's and two steals.
Aside from Hanson on the glass, senior
Solape Amusan grabbed a career-high nine rebounds, while sophomore
Benthe Versteeg followed up her 10-assist performance against Santa Clara with nine assists against CSUN, adding six points and five rebounds.
After trading baskets over the first four minutes of the game, the Hornets closed the first quarter by scoring nine of the final 12 points in the period, holding the Matadors to a single field goal over the final 5:37 to lead by five.
However, it was a 13-4 burst in the second quarter after CSUN had closed to within a pair that broke the game open as Sacramento State led by 11 at the break. The roll continued into the third as a pair of short runs — the first a 7-0 spurt followed by an 8-0 burst two minutes later — gave the Hornets their largest lead of the afternoon at 46-26 with 3:13 to play in the quarter.
The Matadors would not go quietly, however, finishing the period on a 10-0 run to cut the deficit in half and made it an 18-4 run into the fourth quarter to trail by only six with 2:45 to play before the Hornets regained their feet.
A basket inside by
Seilala Lautaimi, who finished with eight points, snapped the CSUN run and Hanson added the final four points of the game in the final 38 seconds as Sacramento State held the Matadors to a single basket in the final 2:45, milking the clock the rest of the way en route to the victory.
The Hornets now break for final exams until Dec. 16, when they hit the road for the first time in more than a month, traveling to Fresno State for a 2 p.m. tip-off in the Central Valley.
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