SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After opening the 2024-25 campaign with three straight games at home, the Sacramento State women's basketball team hits the road for the first time this season, heading to Orange County to take on Cal State Fullerton on Thursday (Nov. 14) at 7 p.m. at Titan Gym.
GAME #4
WHAT: Sacramento State (3-0, 0-0 Big Sky) at Cal State Fullerton (0-3, 0-0 Big West)
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024
TIME: 7 p.m. PT
WHERE: Fullerton, Calif.
ARENA: Titan Gym
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: FullertonTitans.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Cal State Fullerton
THE COACHES
• Sacramento State's Aaron Kallhoff is entering his second year at the helm of the Hornets' program. Prior to taking the job at Sacramento State, he served five years 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
• Cal State Fullerton's Jeff Harada is in his eighth season at the helm of the Titans' program, posting a 78-126 record in Orange County. He owns 180 career wins as a head coach when you include his time at Hawai'i Pacific (2007-11) and Central Washington (2014-17)
HORNETS AT A GLANCE
• Sacramento State returns five letter winners and two starters off of last season's squad, while welcoming nine new faces to the roster -- five of those via transfer
• Three of those transfers are from Division I programs -- all of whom will be very familiar to the Hornets. Sacramento State welcomes back Katie Peneueta, who spent 2023-24 at NC State and helped the Wolfpack to an NCAA "Final Four" appearance, while Jaydia Martin and Fatoumata Jaiteh come to Northern California from Big Sky rivals Eastern Washington and Northern Arizona
• Record-setting junior guard Benthe Versteeg is the leading returning scorer after averaging 11.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while setting the school single-season record with 208 assists (6.71 assists per game)
• Sophomore Lina Falk started 19 of the team's 31 games -- including each of the last 14 -- and reached double figures five times, including a career-high 17 against Idaho State in the Big Sky Tournament
ABOUT THE TITANS
• Cal State Fullerton enters the week with an 0-3 record following losses to Pepperdine, Fordham, and Long Island to start the season
• Thursday's contest against the Hornets will be the Titans' home opener and the only home game in the team's first eight contests to start the 2024-25 campaign
• Cal State Fullerton lost its top four scorers off of last season's squad and welcomes seven newcomers to the fold for this year
• Junior guard Demonnie Lagway is the team's top returning scorer after averaging 5.5 ppg and 2.1 rpg, shooting .366 from the field
• Sophomore guard Aaliyah Stanton, a transfer from UTEP who was named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team last year, leads the team in scoring at 10.7 ppg, shooting .314 from the floor
• Senior post Aixchel Hernandez is averaging nearly a double-double on the year, posting 8.7 ppg and a team-best 11.0 rpg while shooting .367 from the field
SERIES NOTABLES
• Cal State Fullerton leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 9-2
• The Titans won the last meeting, 61-51, in Sacramento last season
• The Hornets last posted a win, 67-55, in Fullerton on Dec. 21, 2022 -- the first meeting between the two schools since 2012
• Sacramento State's only other win in the series came back in 1997, a 79-75 victory in Orange County
• The Hornets are 2-3 on the road against the Titans
CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State enters Thursday's game a combined 89-105 against the current Big West Conference alignment
• UC San Diego was the only Big West member that the Hornets hadn't faced until last Thursday (Nov. 7) when they posted a 71-60 victory over the Tritons
• The Hornets own 32 wins over UC Davis -- the most against any current Big West member -- with 21 more victories coming against CSUN
• Thursday's game against the Titans is the second of four against Big West members in 2024-25, all coming in Sacramento State's next three games: at Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 14), home against Long Beach State (Nov. 17), and at Causeway rival UC Davis (Nov. 20)
• The Hornets were 1-3 against the Big West last year, defeating CSUN on Dec. 2 for Head Coach Aaron Kallhoff's first Sacramento State coaching win, while falling to Cal State Fullerton (61-51), UC Davis (79-57), and Cal Poly (72-55)
• The year prior, the Hornets were 6-1 against the Big West during their Big Sky Conference championship run in 2022-23
THREE AND OH, MY!
• With Sunday's victory over Lincoln University, Sacramento State improved to 3-0 on the season -- the program's first 3-0 start in its Division I history and the first since the 1976-77 squad did so
• According to available records, a win Thursday against Cal State Fullerton would make this year's Hornet team the first to start a season with four straight victories
JUST WIN, BABY
• It's been a while since the Hornets have posted as big a win as they had on Sunday against Lincoln University as the 33-point triumph was the program's largest since a 59-point win over Pacific Union on Dec. 19, 2019
• Sacramento State has won all three of its games this season by 10-or-more points and extends their streak to five straight double-digit victories dating back to last year that includes a 16-point win at Northern Arizona (Feb. 15) and an 18-point win over Idaho State (March 9)
• The Hornets have won three straight by double digits for the first time since the 2022-23 team won four straight from Feb. 27 to March 8 that year
• The 78 points in the win over Jessup were the most in a season-opener for Sacramento State since an 88-85 win over Cal Poly to tip-off the 2018-19 campaign
• Meanwhile, the 88 points in the win over Lincoln University were the most by the Hornets since a 96-88 loss against Idaho on Feb. 22, 2020
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• Each of the Hornets' first three games this year were first-time opponents
• Sacramento State has, possibly, four more first-time opponents on its schedule in 2024-25: Abilene Christian (twice), Kansas City, Omaha, and a possible meeting with Wagner at the FIU Thanksgiving Tournament
FALK THIS WAY
• Sophomore Lina Falk has picked up right where she left off last year in the scoring department, finishing in double figures in two of the team's first three games and leading the team in scoring at 14.7 ppg
• After tying her career high with 17 points against Jessup in the opener, she did herself one better against Lincoln University, setting a new career high with 18 points against the Oaks, shooting 8-of-10 from the field
• Her 44 points for the week led all Big Sky Conference scorers, while her 14.7 ppg ranked fifth
• Her eight makes from the field against Lincoln were tied for the second-most among conference players
TAYLOR MADE
• After scoring just two points in her first two appearances, freshman Brooklyn Taylor had herself a day against Lincoln University on Sunday, posting her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in only 13 minutes against the Oaks
• Both were career highs as she hit 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line in the victory
• Of her 10 rebounds, seven of those came on the offensive glass -- the most since former Hornet Isnelle Natabou finished with nine o-boards (out of 10 total) against Idaho in the 2023 BIg Sky Conference Tournament opener
• Taylor was one of six Big Sky players to grab 10-or-more rebounds in a game during the season's opening week of play
• She was also the third different Hornet to lead the team in rebounding through the first three games joining Lina Falk (nine vs. Jessup) and Fatoumata Jaiteh (nine vs. UC San Diego)
THIS IS PERFECT... PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT
• Freshman Sofia Alonso just can't miss from the line to start the season, opening the year a perfect 12-for-12 from the charity stripe
• The streak of consecutive made free throws is the longest since former Hornet Summah Hanson was 16-for-16 from Dec. 2 to Jan. 11 of last season
FUN WITH FREE THROWS
• All told, Sacramento State and UC San Diego were whistled for a combined 59 fouls in the Hornets' 71-60 victory on Nov. 7
• As a result, Sacramento State finished a robust 25-for-28 at the line, attempting 30-or-more free throws for the first time since finishing 20-for-30 from the stripe against Montana State on March 5, 2021
• The 35 attempts were the most since the Hornets were 27-for-35 (.771) against Montana on Feb. 29, 2020, while the 25 makes were the most since finishing 25-for-29 against Eastern Washington on Jan. 7, 2023
• The 33 fouls called against UC San Diego marked the first time that a Sacramento State opponent had been charged with 30-or-more fouls since Northern Arizona picked up 30 on Dec. 29, 2011
• Meanwhile, Benthe Versteeg finished with a game-high eight makes in 12 attempts in the game — the most makes since she had eight against Portland State on Feb. 3 of last season and the most attempts by a Hornet since Kahlaijah Dean finished 10-of-12 from the line against EWU on Jan. 7, 2023
BUTCHER BALLING
• Welcome back, Madison Butcher!
• After missing a good part of the last two seasons due to injury, the sophomore from Loomis, Calif., has come out of the gates strong to start 2024-25, twice finishing in double figures in the first three games and entering the week ranked second on the team in scoring
• Butcher has shot better than 50 percent from the field in all three games thus far, leading the team with a .579 field goal percentage -- a mark that would rank second in the Big Sky entering the week
• She finished with a career-high 16 points in the win over UC San Diego, surpassing her previous mark of 11 against Eastern Washington on Jan. 7, 2023
HELP ME, HELP YOU
• Sacramento State finished with 24 assists on its 36 makes against Lincoln University -- the most helpers in a single game since the Hornets finished with 25 (on 29 makes) in a win over Northern Colorado on Feb. 11, 2023.
THEY JUST KEPT GOING IN
• The 36 made field goals against Lincoln University were the most since the Hornets drained 39 baskets as part of a 107-point night at Northern Arizona on Jan. 9, 2020
TOP-HALF HORNETS
• A season after finishing eighth in the Big Sky Conference standings, the Hornets enter the 2024-25 campaign picked to finish fourth in the league according to a preseason vote of the conference's head coaches and sixth according to media that follow the Big Sky
• It is the highest preseason finish for Sacramento State in the coaches poll since the Hornets were selected tied for second with North Dakota and trailing Montana prior to the 2015-16 season
• Sacramento State is part of a packed middle of the pack in the preseason coaches poll that has the Hornets with 48 points, Northern Colorado with 47, Idaho State with 44, and Idaho with 36
• The same can be said in the media poll where the Bengals were picked fourth with 143 points, followed by the Bears (136), Sacramento State (135), and Eastern Washington (132, 1 first-place vote)
• The top three were the same in both the coaches and media polls as Montana State picked up seven of the 10 first-place votes from the coaches, followed by Montana State with three first-place votes, and Montana
VERSTEEG PICKS UP PRESEASON BIG SKY NOD
• Junior guard Benthe Versteeg was one of six student-athletes named to the Preseason All-Big Sky Team, joining Northern Arizona's Sophie Glancey (who was also selected MVP) and Leia Beattie, Montana State's Esmeralda Morales and Marah Dykstra, and Montana's Dani Bartsch
• Versteeg is only the fourth Hornet to earn preseason all-league honors, joining former standouts Brianna Burgos (2016-17), Kennedy Nicholas (2019-20), and Isnelle Natabou (2022-23)
"HELLO, MY NAME IS..."
• For the second consecutive season, Sacramento State welcomes nine new faces to the roster for 2024-25, adding four freshmen, three Division I transfers, a Division II newcomer, and another from the junior college ranks
• That total does NOT include a trio of returning medical redshirts (Madison Butcher, Sofia Alonso, and Paula Haw), who combined to appear in a total of five games in 2023-24
• The nine newcomers in each of the last two seasons are the most since the 2014-15 roster featured nine new faces: four freshmen and five junior college transfers
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 the fourth most among Division I programs across the nation according to a preseason poll of schools
• The seven players trail only UTEP (10), Colorado (8), and Gonzaga (8)
• The Hornets' roster represents six different countries (United States, Germany, Spain, Australia, The Netherlands, and Hungary), which ranks fifth in the NCAA
• With the addition of Australians Jemma Amoore and Rubi Gray, along with Hungary's Noemi Arvai, Sacramento State has now had 18 international players in the program's Division I history -- 16 of those coming in the last seven years
• Australia leads the way with four former Hornets, followed by three from Germany, two from Spain France, and Canada, and one each from The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Brazil
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 sixth among those that responded behind Clemson, Kentucky, and Central Michigan with 11, and Colorado and New Mexico with 10
• Among those same schools, Sacramento State's four freshmen are tied for second with Colorado and New Mexico, while Central Michigan has five
• However, the five transfers are the fewest among that group, trailing Clemson (9), Kentucky (8), Colorado (6), and New Mexico (6)
UNITED STATES OF SACRAMENTO
• In addition to the student-athletes from six different countries, this year's edition of the Hornets also hail from three different states
• Alongside four native Californians (Jeniece Harmon, Madison Butcher, Sophia Lee, and Brooklyn Taylor), Sacramento State also features natives of Washington (Katie Peneueta, Jaydia Martin, and Fatoumata Jaiteh) and Texas (Kennadi Archibald)
• Archibald becomes the first Texan on a Hornet women's basketball roster since Kennedy Burks (Grand Prairie, Texas) played during the 2019-20 season
• Martin and Jaiteh are the latest Washingtonians to compete for Sacramento State as the "Evergreen State" is home to 17 former Hornets during the program's Division I era -- the most of any state outside of California
• In the program's Division I era, Hornets have called a total of 25 different states home
CALIFORNIA LOVE
• Including its exhibition against Cal State East Bay, Sacramento State won't leave the state of California until after Thanksgiving when they travel to Miami for the FIU Thanksgiving Classic
• The Hornets will play 16 games in the "Golden State" and visit three states in non-conference play: Florida, Nebraska, and New Mexico, along with trips to Oregon, Idaho, Washington, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Montana when Big Sky Conference play kicks in
CATCH US IF YOU CAN
• Of the aforementioned 16 home contests, the Hornets will play five of their first six games within the friendly confines of The Nest
• After that, however, it's catch-as-catch-can as Sacramento State will play only two home games -- vs. Kansas City on Dec. 4 and San Jose State on Dec. 15 -- from Nov. 20 through Jan. 11, including Big Sky opening games at Portland State (Jan. 4), Idaho (Jan. 9), and Eastern Washington (Jan. 11)
• The 32 days between home games against San Jose State (Dec. 15) and Northern Arizona (Jan. 16) -- during which the Hornets will play five games away from The Nest -- is the seventh-largest gap in the nation this year: Columbia (47 days, 6 games away from home), UC Irvine (46 days, 7 games), Texas A&M-Commerce (45 days, 6 games), Stephen F. Austin (40 days, 8 games), William & Mary (35 days, 4 games), and Utah State (34 days, 8 games)
AS THE WORLD TOURNEYS
• Sacramento State will compete in two multi-team tournaments -- the FIU Thanksgiving Classic in Miami, Fla., and the Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M. -- in addition to the second-annual Big Sky-Summit League Challenge in 2024-25
• That gives the Hornets three regular-season tournament appearances since the 1998-99 squad played at the Danka Classic in Reno, Nev., the Boise State Christmas Classic in Idaho, and the Saint Mary's Christmas Classic in Moraga, Calif.
BACK TO RUN THE SHOW
• The Big Sky assist queen returns to the floor for her third season in the green and gold as Benthe Versteeg looks to build upon her record-setting 2023-24 campaign
• Versteeg's 208 assists last year not only broke the Sacramento State single-season record that had stood since 2015, the mark ranked tied for eighth in the Big Sky annals
• Versteeg became the 11th player in Big Sky history to accumulate 200 assists in a season and only the second do accomplish the feat since 2012, joining Northern Arizona's Regan Schenck (231 in 2022-23)
• Versteeg's 6.71 assists per game is also the highest single-season mark in program history (Fantasia Hilliard averaged 6.50 apg in 2013-14)
• In the process, Versteeg is the first Hornet to lead the league in assists since Lianna Tillman (6.04 apg) in 2021-22
• She is also only the fifth Hornet overall to lead the league in assists, joining Tillman, Rexanne Rodriguez (5.65 apg) in 2000-01, Tika Koshiyama-Diaz (5.48 apg) in 2010-11, and Hilliard, who did it in three straight seasons: 2012-13 (5.9 apg), 2013-14 (6.5 apg), and 2014-15 (5.8 pg)
HOLD UP, WAIT A MINUTE
• Versteeg played all 40 minutes in a regulation game 10 times last season and played better than 39 minutes on eight other occasions
• Those performances helped her average 38.43 minutes per game in 2023-24 -- only Duquesne's Megan McConnell (38.50) averaged more
• Overall, Versteeg's 1,191 minutes played this year are tied for the most on the school's single-season list, matching Kahlaijah Dean's marathon mark set in 2022-23
• Versteeg's 10 "complete games" in 2023-24 are the most since Rexanne Rodriguez played at least 40 minutes in 21 of the team's 26 games -- and her teammate Michelle St. Clair did so in 19 of those 26 -- in 2000-01
GUESS WHO'S BACK... BACK AGAIN
• Katie's back. Tell a friend.
• After spending a season helping NC State to an appearance in the NCAA "Final Four," senior Katie Peneueta returns to Sacramento State for her final collegiate season in 2024-25
• Peneueta spent her first two seasons with the Hornets in 2021-22 and 2022-23, averaging 8.5 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting .462 from the field, .458 from three-point range, and .795 from the line
• She is currently one of only two Division I players in the NCAA according to a preseason poll of schools across the nation to return to their original university after spending a year elsewhere along with Middle Tennessee State's Courtney Blakely, who spent last season at Arizona
THREE IS MORE THAN TWO
• Trust us... Peneueta has certainly done the math
• In 51 career games with the Hornets, the Vancouver, Wash., native has made a living from long distance, sinking 127 of her 139 made field goals from beyond the three-point line
• As a freshman, only four of her 60 makes were from closer than 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches while, as a sophomore, she doubled that output, making eight two-pointers out of her 79 total baskets
THE "PEN"-EUETA IS MIGHTIER
• Peneueta stands 15 three-point makes away from breaking into the school's all-time top 10, closing in on Sarah Stapp (1992-96)
• Her career .458 (127-for-277) three-point percentage is the best in school history entering the 2024-25 season
• Peneueta's 63 career blocks also rank ninth on the all-time list entering the year, needing four more swats to match Sephora Scoubes (1999-01) for eighth on the chart
• She also holds the top two single-season three-point marks in school history, shooing a school-record .463 (56-for-121) as a freshman in 2021-22 and a second-best mark of .455 (71-for-156) in her sophomore season
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
• Peneueta, junior guard Benthe Versteeg, and Madison Butcher are the last remaining pieces from the Hornets' 2022-23 Big Sky regular season and tournament championship run that ended in a trip to UCLA for the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament berth
• Meanwhile, senior Jaydia Martin comes to Sacramento State after helping Eastern Washington to the 2023-24 Big Sky regular season and tournament crowns
• The name Fatoumata Jaiteh also has a nice "ring" to it after helping Northern Arizona to a share of the 2023 Big Sky regular season crown with the Hornets
IT'S IN THEIR BLOOD
• Freshman Guard Jemma Amoore enters her first year at the collegiate level while her sister, Georgia, is wrapping up her eligibility at Kentucky following an All-American four years at Virginia Tech
• Junior forward Kennadi Archibald's parents were also collegiate basketball standouts: her father, Beau, played at Washington State (1996-97) and UConn (1998-01), while her mother, Aleah, played at Texas Tech (1998-00) and professionally in Portugal
• Freshman Rubi Gray's father, David, played professionally in Australia for four different clubs, while her uncle, Mark, played at Miami and professionaly in Australia's NBL and NBL1
• Sophomore Sophia Lee's sister, Jordan, is entering her freshman year with the Texas women's basketball team, while their parents played collegiately in Canada: Roderick at the University of Ottawa and Georgia at Brock University
BENCH BOSSES
• Joining second-year head coach Aaron Kallhoff on the bench are associate head coach De'Audra Brown, assistant coaches Jodi Page and Asha Thomas, along with Women's Basketball Chief of Staff Elexus Trenkle
• A sideline veteran at both the junior college and Division I levels, Brown was elevated to her current position in March of 2024. She was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "30-under-30" coaches list in 2017 and has stops at Hawai'i, New Mexico State, Eastern Arizona College and Seward County Community College.
• Page is in her second year with the Hornets after spending 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 the second year of 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 is in her second season at Sacramento State 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
