SACRAMENTO — The regular season for the Sacramento State women's basketball team comes to a close on Monday night in the Evergreen State as the Hornets take on league-leading Eastern Washington at 6 p.m. at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.
NEXT UP…
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Eastern Washington | Big Sky Conference
GAME #29
WHAT: Sacramento State (5-23, 4-13) at Eastern Washington (25-5, 15-2)
WHEN: Monday, March 3, 2024
TIME: 6 p.m. PT
WHERE: Cheney, Wash.
ARENA: Reese Court
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: GoEags.com
THE COACHES
• Sacramento State's Aaron Kallhoff is in his first season at the helm of the Hornets. He has served five previous seasons 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. He earned his first career Division I victory as a head coach on Dec. 2 against CSUN
• Eastern Washington head coach Joddie Gleason is in her third season at the helm of the Eagles' program, winning 28 games over the last season before posting 25 wins in 2023-24. She won 308 games at Cal Poly Humboldt (2004-16) and Butte Community College (1999-04)
ABOUT THE EAGLES
• Eastern Washington enters the regular season finale at 25-5 overall and 15-2 in Big Sky play
• The Eagles clinched at least a share of the Big Sky regular season title with their 52-50 victory over Montana State in Bozeman on Saturday
• EWU has won its last nine straight, having not lost since a one-point decision at home against the Bobcats on Feb. 1
• The Eagles are 11-2 at home, having won the last five straight at Reese Court
• Sophomore guard Aaliyah Alexander leads a trio of double-digit scorers at 15.0 ppg while shooting .424 from the field overall
• Graduate guard Jamie Loera (13.3 ppg) and junior guard Jaleesa Lawrence (10.6 ppg) are also in double figures, while Loera leads the team in both rebounds (6.0 rpg) and assists (5.38 apg)
SERIES NOTABLES
• Eastern Washington leads the all-time series with Sacramento State by a 38-23 count since 1986-87
• The Eagles have won two straight in the series after posting a 60-33 win at The Nest earlier this year
• Sacramento State is 5-5 in the last 10 meetings with Eastern Washington, last sweeping the regular season series
• The Hornets are 10-16 on the road against EWU, but they have won three of their last four trips to Cheney
BIG SKY BIG PICTURE
• Sacramento State enters the regular season finale tied for eighth in the Big Sky standings along with Weber State
• Both the Hornets and Wildcats are one game ahead of 10th-place Portland State with only Monday's match-ups remaining
HORNET TIP-INS
• Monday's game against Eastern Washington marks only the third game played on that day of the week this season — all of those coming on the road: the Hornets fell at Washington in the season opener on Nov. 6 and at Idaho on Feb. 5
• Saturday at Portland State marked the first time this year that the Hornets had been tied at the half
• Each of Sacramento State's last four games have been decided by six points or fewer
• The Hornets have not trailed by more than eight points in six of their last seven contests and have held double-digit leads in five of their last seven
• Sacramento State freshman Summah Hanson has now reached double figures in each of her last nine games following her 15-point performance at Portland State on Saturday
• Hanson is averaging nearly a double-double over that stretch, putting up 15.6 ppg and 9.78 rpg while shooting .455 (51-for-112) from the field
• Hanson's 13 double-doubles this year continue to lead the Big Sky Conference and rank tied for 31st in the nation
• Sophomore Irune Orio finished with a team-high 17 points at Portland State on Saturday, posting her highest total since scoring a career-high 22 points against the Vikings back on Feb. 3 at home
• Orio has now reached double digits in points 11 times this year, with 10 of those coming since the calendar turned to Jan. 1
• Sophomore Benthe Versteeg continues to lead the Big Sky in both assists (179) and assists per game (6.39 apg)
• Versteeg's 179 assists this year are tied with Lianna Tillman's 2021-22 total for fourth on the school's all-time single-season list, needing just five more to match Fantasia Hilliard's 2012-13 total of 184 for third and 16 more to match Hilliard's 2013-14 total (195) for second
• Versteeg has 17 games with at least six assists this year, including a program Division I era single-game record of 14 against Weber State on Feb. 10 and 13 more at Northern Arizona on Feb. 15
