SACRAMENTO, Calif. — "Our journey starts today."
Those were some of the first words out of the mouth of Sacramento State's first-year head coach Aaron Kallhoff on Monday night at The Nest, as the defending Big Sky Conference champion Hornet women's basketball team officially opened practice for the 2023-24 campaign.
Gathered in a circle at center court, Kallhoff and assistant coaches De'Audra Brown, Jodi Page, and Asha Thomas, laid out the game plan for the night and set the stage for the next 31 days leading up to the team's first contest — a home exhibition against Jessup University on Oct. 26.
"We're going to be 'all in'… if we're going to take this program to places where it has never been," Kallhoff declared before breaking the huddle and getting underway.
It's hard to imagine topping a 2022-23 campaign that ended just over six months ago, but Kallhoff has the bar set high for his charges — a group that returns four players off of last season's record-setting campaign and welcomes nine newcomers to the fold.
Ranked No. 22 in the final College Insider Mid-Major poll and No. 87 in the final NCAA NET rankings, Sacramento State finished a memorable run with a 25-8 overall record and a 13-5 mark in the Big Sky — the most wins in a season by either the men's or women's program in school history — winning a share of its 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-seeded UCLA.
Gallery: (9-25-2023) WBB First Practice (Sept. 25, 2023)
However, Sacramento State lost a significant chunk of its production after last year's run to either graduation or the transfer portal, but has reloaded with a decorated group of international talent — a total of seven student-athletes representing five different nations — as well as a home-grown quartet that hails from as close as Stockton, Calif., to as far away as Charlotte, N.C.
The core of returners is paced by fifth-year senior Solape Amusan, who enters the second season in the green and gold after coming on in the second half of last year to help power the Hornets to the title. The sharpshooter from Woodbury, Minn., shot nearly 41 percent from the floor overall and 40 percent from beyond the arc in 29 games and looks primed for a breakout final season.
Sophomores Madison Butcher, Benthe Versteeg, Kaylie Edge, and Irune Orio, also return for another go-round with Sacramento State, serving as the foundation for what Kallhoff plans to build.
That foundation will be tested as the non-conference schedule features a pair of WNIT qualifiers in Washington (WNIT semifinals) and San Diego State (WNIT 1st round), and another once Big Sky Conference play gets underway with a pair of games against Northern Arizona (WNIT 1st round).
Season tickets are now on sale online at HornetSports.com or by contacting the ticket office at (916) 278-2222 or email at hornettickets@csus.edu. Single-game tickets will go on sale beginning Oct. 4 at 10 a.m.
