SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State women's basketball team hopes a match-up against Causeway rival cures all ills following its first defeat -- by one-point in heartbreaking fashion no less -- of the season as the Hornets travel to UC Davis on Wednesday (Nov. 20) for a 6 p.m. tip-off at the University Credit Union Center on campus.
GAME #6
WHAT: Sacramento State (4-1, 0-0 Big Sky) at UC Davis (1-3, 0-0 Big West)
WHEN: Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024
TIME: 6 p.m. PT
WHERE: Davis, Calif.
ARENA: University Credit Union Center
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: UCDavisAggies.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | UC Davis
ABOUT THE AGGIES
• UC Davis enters the week with a 1-3 overall record, posting a win over Simpson University in its season opener before losing its last three against San Diego State, No. 24 Stanford, and Montana State
• The Aggies are 1-1 within the friendly confines of the UCU Center this year
• Head Coach Jennifer Gross is in her 14th season at the helm of her alma mater, winning 238 career games and named Big West Coach of the Year in five straight seasons from 2017-2021
• UC Davis was picked to finish third in the Big West Conference, placing behind only Hawai'i and UC Irvine
• Senior guard Tova Sabel, a preseason All-Big West pick, is one of two Aggies in double figures, pacing the squad at 15.3 ppg while averaging 4.3 rpg and shooting .383 from the field
• Junior Nya Epps is second on the team in scoring at 12.0 ppg, shooting .553 from the field, while junior center Megan Norris leads the team on the glass at 6.5 rpg
SERIES NOTABLES
• UC Davis holds a narrow lead in the all-time series with Sacramento State, 35-32
• The Aggies won last year's meeting at The Nest, 79-57, and have won six of the last seven meetings
• The Hornets' last victory in the series came at the Golden 1 Center in Downtown Sacramento, posting a 67-45 victory on Nov. 22, 2022
• Sacramento State is 13-18 on the road against UC Davis, having not won on the Aggies' home floor since a 92-77 triumph on Dec. 13, 2015, and falling in the last two trips across the Causeway
• Wednesday's Nov. 20 clash is the earliest in the season that the two rivals have met since a UC Davis win in Sacramento on Nov. 18, 2014
• Including this year's meeting, the last four games have been held on Nov. 23 (2021), Nov. 22 (2022), Nov. 21 (2023), and Nov. 20 (2024)
• The winner of each of the last three meetings has done so by double digits as the two schools have not played to a margin of victory under 10 points since a 77-75 double-overtime Aggie win in 2019
CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State enters Thursday's game a combined 90-106 against the current Big West Conference alignment, including a 2-1 record this year
• UC San Diego was the only Big West member that the Hornets hadn't faced until 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
• Wednesday's game against Long Beach State is the fourth of four against Big West members in 2024-25
• 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 championship run in 2022-23
JUST WIN, BABY
• The Hornets haven't just been winning to start 2024-25, they've been winning BIG
• All four of Sacramento State's victories this season have been by double figures and the Hornets' last six triumphs dating back to last season have all been by double digits -- a run that includes a 16-point win at Northern Arizona (Feb. 15) and an 18-point win over Idaho State (March 9)
• Sacramento State's 33-point triumph over Lincoln University on Nov. 10 was the program's largest since a 59-point win over Pacific Union on Dec. 19, 2019
• 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
• The Hornets have won four straight by double digits for the first time since the 2022-23 team won four straight from Feb. 27 to March 8 en route to a Big Sky regular season and tournament title and an NCAA berth
PUT A LID ON IT
• Defensive wins championships... it also seems to win the Hornets a lot of games to start the 2024-25 season
• Sacramento State's defense has been the definition of stingy to start the year, now allowing an opponent to shoot better than 40 percent all year -- either overall or from beyond the arc
• UC San Diego came the closest in the second game of the season, on Nov. 7 shooting .396 for the game
• Meanwhile, the 40 points allowed in the win at Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 14 are the fewest since Pacific Union managed only 35 in a 94-35 Hornet victory on Dec. 19, 2019, and were the fewest allowed to a Division I opponent since a 78-35 win at Montana on Jan. 8, 2011
• Cal State Fullerton's field goal percentage was the lowest by a Sacramento State opponent since UC Davis shot .278 on Nov. 22, 2022, in a 67-45 Hornet victory at the Golden 1 Center in Downtown Sacramento
• The Titans' four-point fourth quarter marked the fewest points allowed in a single period by Sacramento State since holding Northern Arizona to a four-point second quarter in the Big Sky Tournament title game on March 8, 2023
DE-FENSE (CLAP, CLAP)... DE-FENSE (CLAP, CLAP)
• Sacramento State enters the week ranked second in the Big Sky Conference in scoring defense at 55.0 ppg, while outscoring opponents by an average of 19.4 ppg (also second in the league)
• Opponents are shooting just .337 overall against the Hornets, which leads the Big Sky, while the .283 against from three-point range ranks fifth in the league
BENCH MARKS
• Sacramento State is getting production up and down its roster in 2024-25, ranking No. 30 in the NCAA with 33.0 bench points per game
• The Hornet bench has accounted for 30-or-more points in a game four times -- including a season-high 48 against Lincoln University -- and has outscored the opposing bench, 165-77
THIS IS PERFECT... PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT
• Every week feels like we're going to jinx this, but freshman Sofia Alonso just can't miss from the line to start the season
• The Spaniard has opened the year a perfect 18-for-18 -- the most in the Big Sky entering the week -- from the charity stripe following her 2-for-2 performance against Long Beach State last Sunday
• Alonso is one of 19 players in the NCAA that are still perfect from the line with at least 10 free throws attempted (as of Nov. 17), ranking tied for third on the list with Fairleigh Dickinson's Abaigeal Babore and trailing only Saint Louis' Peyton Kennedy (29-for-29) and Colgate's Anne Bair (21-for-21)
• The streak of consecutive makes is the longest since Camariah King went 22-for-22 in between misses from Dec. 6, 2019 at Seattle U to Jan. 11, 2020 at Weber State
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 four of the team's first five games and leading the team in scoring at 15.4 ppg
• Falk became the first Hornet to hit the 20-point plateau this season, finishing with 20 points on the nose against Long Beach State last Sunday, and averaged 16.5 ppg in nearly 28 minutes per contest last week
• She has either tied or set a new career high in scoring three times in the first five games this season and has shot better than 40 percent from the field four times
• Falk's 8-of-10 performance from the field against Lincoln University marked the most field goal makes in a game by a Hornet since Benthe Versteeg finished 8-of-14 in a win at Northern Arizona on Feb. 15, 2024
• Falk's .800 field goal percentage in that same contest was the highest in a game by a Hornet (minimum of five attempts) since Summah Hanson was 4-of-5 (.800) against Idaho State in the first round of last year's Big Sky Conference Tournament
SHE SCORES, SHE ASSISTS... SHE REBOUNDS?
• After finishing last season ranked first on the team in assists and second on the team in scoring, junior Benthe Versteeg has added another weapon to her repertoire... crashing the glass with the best of them
• Versteeg, who averaged 3.6 rpg last season, is averaging 6.0 rpg through the first five games this season, setting a career high with 11 boards against Long Beach State on Sunday
• The 11 rebounds marked her first career double-digit performance on the glass and the first time in her Hornet career that she led the team on the glass, posting the most rebounds by Sacramento State player since Summah Hanson had 11 in the quarterfinals of last year's Big Sky Tournament against Northern Arizona
• The native of The Netherlands has grabbed 30 rebounds thus far this season, compared to just 22 after five games last year
SOFIA THE FIRST
• Alonso has been one of -- if not THE -- first option off the bench for the Hornets thus far this season, ranking second on the team in scoring at 11.6 ppg while averaging 29 minutes per game as a reserve in all five games
• The Spaniard set a career high with 10 points in the opener against Jessup, topped that with 11 points against Lincoln University two games later, followed that with a career-best 13 points at Cal State Fullerton, and established a new career high with 17 against Long Beach State last Sunday
• In addition to her scoring output, Alonso also set or tied career benchmarks with five rebounds, six field goals made, two blocks, and 36 minutes against the Beach
• Alonso has finished in double figures four of the team's first five games, joining Lina Falk as the only Hornets to accomplish that feat this season
• Defensively, she has multiple steals in three of the five contests and leads the team with 12 swipes overall -- a total that is tied for the Big Sky Conference lead entering the week while ranking fourth in the league at 2.4 spg
ALL A-"BOARD" FOR BROOKLYN
• After grabbing just two rebounds in her first two games as a Hornet, freshman Brooklyn Taylor has been a beast on the boards for the Sacramento State, averaging 7.3 rpg (22 total) over her last three games
• Of those 22 rebounds, 12 of those have come on the offensive glass -- including seven of her 10 rebounds against Lincoln University on Nov. 10, which were the most by a Hornet since Isnelle Natabou finished with nine o-boards (out of 10 total) against Idaho in the 2023 Big Sky Tournament opener
SWIPER, NO SWIPING!
• Alonso's five steals against Fullerton were the most in a game by a Hornet since Solape Amusan had five against Weber State on Feb. 10, 2024
• Sacramento State's defense has accounted for 52 steals through the first five contests this season, ranking second in the Big Sky with 10.4 spg and trailing only league-leading Montana State (16.25 spg in four games)
• The Hornets' 52 steals through five games are well ahead of last year's pace when it took them their first nine games to reach 61 steals on the season -- and that included a 16-steal performance at Fresno State to bolster those numbers
• Five players rank among the top 25 in steals in the Big Sky entering the weekend: Alonso in fourth (2.4 spg), Jaydia Martin is fifth (2.2 spg), Fatoumata Jaiteh is 11th (1.6 spg), and both Versteeg and Falk are tied for 23rd (1.2 spg)
ROOM TO BOARD
• Every night it seems like there has been a different hero on the boards for the Hornets as six different players have combined to lead or share the team lead on the glass in Sacramento State's first five games
• Falk (9 vs. Jessup), Jaiteh (9 vs. UC San Diego), Taylor (10 vs. Lincoln), and the trio of Martin, Versteeg, and Alonso grabbed a team-high five boards each in the win at Fullerton, while Versteeg led the way against Long Beach State with 11 rebounds
• The Hornets have outrebounded the opposition by an average of 11.6 rpg -- which leads the Big Sky by more than four rebounds per game
STABLE CONDITION
• The Hornets have used the same starting five (Versteeg, Rubi Gray, Falk, Martin, and Jaiteh) in all five games to start the season
• It's a stark contrast to the 2023-24 campaign when Sacramento State had eight different starting lineups through the team's first eight games
