FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — All five Sacramento State starters finished in double figures — three of those recording double-doubles on the night — as the Hornets jumped out to a big first-half lead and upset Big Sky Conference-leading Northern Arizona, 82-66, on Thursday in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Sacramento State (5-19, 4-9) won its third-straight game, posted its fourth victory in its last five outings, and picked up its first road triumph of the season, scoring a season-high 82 points and outrebounding the Lumberjacks by a 51-37 count. The win snapped NAU's eight-game winning streak as the Hornets held their hosts to 12 points below its season average, which entered the day ranked No. 24 in the nation.
The 82 points were the most for Sacramento State since an 82-73 win over Montana State on Feb. 23 of last season, while the 51 rebounds were the most since the Hornets had 53 in a double-overtime game at Northern Arizona on Jan. 9, 2020.
Sophomore Benthe Versteeg shared game-high honors with 18 points and wrapped up her third double-double of the season with 13 assists — just one off her own program Division I era single-game record set in her last game against Weber State on Feb. 10. Versteeg, who has now scored in double figures in her last five games, finished 8-of-14 from the field and added four rebounds.
Meanwhile, her 13 assists gave her 159 for the season, moving her into a tie with Tika Koshiyama-Diaz (159 assists in 2010-11) for seventh on both the school's all-time and Division I Era single-season lists. Versteeg needs just one more assist to match Heather Baker's 1991-92 total for sixth and nine more to match Kahlaijah Dean's total of 168 in 2022-23 for fifth.
Senior Solape Amusan and freshman Lina Falk each poured in 15 points apiece, with the former grabbing six rebounds and hitting five three-pointers on the night while the latter finished 7-of-10 from the floor and blocked a pair of shots en route to her new career high.
Freshman Summah Hanson posted her Big Sky-leading 11th double-double of the season overall, her third straight, and her fourth in her last five games with 14 points and 10 rebounds, finishing 5-of-10 from the floor.
Sophomore Irune Orio rounded out the gaggle of double-digit scorers, finishing with 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, while dishing out four assists.
Thursday marked the third time this season that the Hornets had at least four players in double figures and the first time having five players with 10-or-more points since Summer Menke (18), Jordan Olivares (15), Tiana Johnson (11), Milee Enger (10), and Sarah Abney (10) did so against Montana in the team's first game of the Big Sky Tournament on March 8, 2021.
Trailing by four with just under four to play in the opening quarter, Sacramento State exploded for a 9-2 burst that turned the deficit into a three-point lead the Hornets would not relinquish as a three-pointer by Orio and a basket by Versteeg made it a six-point game at the end of one quarter.
The run grew to 12 consecutive points for Sacramento State to start the second quarter as the Hornets scored the first seven points of the period to build a 13-point lead and then ended the half on a 12-2 run — punctuated by a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Amusan — to lead by 22 points, 52-30, at the break.
Northern Arizona adjusted and came out the locker room on an 11-2 run — including seven straight points to start the third quarter — to whittle the deficit down to just 13, but Sacramento State absorbed every Lumberjack rally and never let the hosts come closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
The Hornets finished with the final six points of the third period to go back up by 20 and answered a 10-2 burst by Northern Arizona midway through the fourth, scoring eight of the final 11 points of the game while holding the Lumberjacks to just 1-of-6 from the floor in that same span.
Overall, Sacramento State shot .492 from the field and hit 41 percent from beyond the arc, while holding NAU to just 34 percent overall and 31 percent from distance. The Lumberjacks attempted 30 free throws to only 13 for the Hornets, but made just 14 of those for the game (.467).
Sacramento State scored 26 points in both the first and second quarters, surpassing the 23-point fourth quarter at Montana State for the most in any quarter this year, while the 52 points in the first half were a season high and the most points allowed in the first half by NAU this year.
