SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the first time in over a month, the Sacramento State women's basketball team gets the chance to play in front of the hometown faithful, hosting a pair of Big Sky Conference rivals at The Nest this week.
The Hornets open against Northern Arizona on Thursday (Jan. 16) at 6:30 p.m., before welcoming Northern Colorado on Saturday (Jan. 18) at 2 p.m. They are the first home games for Sacramento State since a Dec. 15 win over San Jose State, having played its last five contests on the road
GAME #17
WHAT: Northern Arizona (12-5, 3-1 Big Sky) at Sacramento State (8-8, 1-2 Big Sky)
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025
TIME: 6:30 PM PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
ARENA: The Nest
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME #18
WHAT: Northern Colorado (8-7, 1-3 Big Sky) at Sacramento State (8-8, 1-2 Big Sky)
WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025
TIME: 2 PM PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
ARENA: The Nest
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Northern Arizona | Northern Colorado
ABOUT THE LUMBERJACKS
• Northern Arizona enters the week with a 12-5 overall record and a 3-1 mark in Big Sky play, tied for second in the league along with Idaho
• The Lumberjacks had a three-game winning streak snapped with a six-point loss to Montana State on Jan. 11, two days after swamping Montana, 65-46
• NAU is 5-4 in true road games this season and 7-4 away from home when you count neutral site wins over James Madison and Tulane in late November
• Northern Arizona has won its last two on the road after losing three straight
• Junior forward Sophie Glancey is nearly averaging a double-double with 17.6 ppg and 9.4 rpg, shooting .489 from the field
• Glancey has won or shared Big Sky Player of the Week honors three times this year
• She is one of four Lumberjacks in double figures along with Taylor Feldman (16.6 ppg), Nyah Moran (13.0 ppg), and Leia Beattie (11.4 ppg)
SERIES NOTABLES
• Northern Arizona leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 42-19
• The Lumberjacks and the Hornets split the regular season series in 2023-24, with each school winning on the other's home floor
• NAU then eliminated Sacramento State from the Big Sky Tournament with an 81-63 win in the quarterfinals
• Of the Hornets' 19 wins in the series, 10 of those have come at The Nest, but they have lost the last four meetings in Sacramento dating back to a 65-61 victory on Jan. 17, 2019
• All three of the Hornets' previous wins in the series have come in Flagstaff, Ariz., or on a neutral floor -- including a 76-63 win in the Big Sky Tournament championship game in 2023
• All but seven of the meetings have been as Big Sky rivals with NAU leading that series, 37-17
ABOUT THE BEARS
• Northern Colorado enters the week with an 8-7 overall record and a 1-3 mark in Big Sky play, taking on Portland State on Thursday before heading to Sacramento
• The Bears snapped a five-game losing streak with a 57-49 win over Montana on Jan. 11, after falling to Montana State, 68-57, two nights earlier
• UNC is just 2-5 away from home this season, losing its last four road contests dating back to a 62-54 win at St. Thomas during the Big Sky-Summit Challenge on Dec. 4
• Sophomore forward Tatum West leads the team in scoring at 10.9 ppg and is averaging a team-high 7.4 rpg while shooting .553 from the field
• Junior forward Aniah Hall averages 10.1 ppg while grabbing 6.7 rpg and shooting .465 from the field
SERIES NOTABLES
• Northern Colorado leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 23-13
• The Bears swept the regular season series from the Hornets in 2023-24, ending a run of four-straight wins by Sacramento State
• Those four wins by the Hornets put an end to a 10-game winning streak by UNC from 2016-21
• Sacramento State opened the series with six wins in the first eight meetings from 2007-10
• Nine of the Hornets' 13 wins in the series have come at The Nest where they are 9-8 against the Bears, including wins in two of the last three in Sacramento
YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN
• Thanks to the Hornets' win over San Jose State back on Dec. 15, Sacramento State improved to 5-1 within the friendly confines of The Nest this season, winning for the eighth time in their last 11 contests at home dating back to last year
• The five wins in six games at home to start the year is the program's best start at The Nest since the 2022-23 squad opened 7-1 through its first eight games
• This year's start also surpassed last year's home win total and marked the seventh time in the school's Division I history that Sacramento State has opened with at least five home wins in its first six games on its home floor
YOU CAN ONLY HOPE TO CONTAIN HER
• Senior Jaydia Martin continues to steamroll her way past the opposition in the scoring column
• Martin has reached double figures in each of her last 10 outings, 11 of her last 12, and 12 of her 16 games overall this year
• Martin is averaging 17.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, and 2.7 apg, while shooting .486 (69-for-142) during her recent run
• As a result, she has raised her season scoring average more than five full points from 9.3 ppg on Nov. 20 to a team-high 14.4 ppg entering this week's games
• Over her last 12 (dating back to Nov. 17 vs. Long Beach State), she is averaging 15.9 ppg while shooting .440 (74-for-168) from the floor
• Nearly 83 percent (191) of her 231 points have come in her last 12 contests
TWO FOR 20
• No, it's not the latest meal deal from your favorite restaurant
• Martin and junior Benthe Versteeg both finished with 20-plus points in the Hornets' shootout at Eastern Washington -- the first time that has happened since Solape Amusan (23) and Irune Orio (22) accomplished the feat against Portland State on Feb. 3, 2024
• Martin's 23 points in her return to Cheney, Wash., where she played her first three collegiate seasons, was her third game with 20-or-more points this year
• Meanwhile, Versteeg's 21 points were a season high and her third career 20-plus point performance, adding five rebounds and seven assists
FOUR! (OR MORE)
• In addition to Martin and Versteeg's scoring exploits, senior Katie Peneueta added 13 points and sophomore Lina Falk scored 10 more, giving the Hornets four double-digit scorers in a game for the seventh time this year
• However, the result was the first loss for Sacramento State in those games after the Hornets had won their first six such contests
HERE'S A QUARTER
• Sacramento State wrapped up the game against Eastern Washington by shooting 65 percent and scoring 32 points in the fourth quarter against the Eagles
• It was the highest-scoring quarter of the year for the Hornets and the program's highest since scoring the same number in the fourth quarter against EWU as part of an 82-76 win on Jan. 28, 2021
• As part of that explosive fourth, Martin scored 12 of her 23 points and Versteeg added 11 of her 21 in the period, marking the sixth and seventh double-digit quarters by a Sacramento State player this year
• It was the first time that two different Hornets had finished with double-digit points in a quarter this season
• However, Martin had accomplished that feat by herself against Kansas City on Dec. 4, scoring 12 points in the third and 10 in the fourth en route to her 31-point night
START ME UP
• The Sacramento State starting five has accounted for 94 percent of the team's scoring (192 of 204 points) over the Hornets' last three games
• The 74 points by the starters at Eastern Washington were a season high and the most since the Sacramento State starting five finished with 75 points at Northern Arizona on Feb. 15 of last year (an 82-66 win)
AWWW SHOOT!
• Sacramento State came tantalizingly close to shooting 50 percent from the field for the third time this season, hitting 30-of-61 (.492) from the floor against EWU
• The Hornets' 30 makes from the field are tied for the most against a Division I opponent this season (Kansas City on Dec. 4), while the .492 field goal percentage is the third highest behind only the .566 against the Roos and the .545 shot against Lincoln University on Nov. 10
• In shooting .471 (8-for-17) from three-point range against the Eagles, Sacramento State shot a season high and its highest since draining 13-of-24 (.542) from distance against Idaho State in the first round of last year's conference tournament
SHE'S JUST KATIE FROM THE BLOCK
• Senior Katie Peneueta is proving to be a problem inside for opposing shooters, collecting three blocks at Idaho and two more against Eastern Washington in last week's action
• Her 13 blocks now lead the team, while her 1.63 bpg would match Northern Arizona's Sophie Glancey for the Big Sky lead had Peneueta met the league minimum for games played this year
• Of Peneueta's 13 blocks, 12 of those have come over the last four games, averaging 3.0 bpg in that span
• The two blocks against the Eagles give her 76 for her career, solidifying her hold on sixth place on the school's all-time list
• With 24 more swats this season Peneueta would become only the sixth Hornet to reach the century mark in school history and the first since Kennedy Nicholas finished with 173 from 2016-20
• Peneueta finished with a game-high six blocks in the team's second meeting with Abilene Christian this season (Dec. 20) -- tied for the most by a Big Sky player in a game this year
• The total, however, was not a career high as the Vancouver, Wash., native had seven swats -- and nearly a triple-double -- in a win over Idaho on Jan. 5, 2023, adding 11 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes against the Vandals
• Peneueta's six blocks against Abilene Christian rank tied for eighth on the school's single-game list, three off the record of 10 set by Heidi Carroll against San Francisco State on Feb. 21, 1983
THREE IS MORE THAN TWO
• In 59 career games with the Hornets, Peneueta has made a living from long distance, sinking 142 of her 163 career 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
• This year, 15 of Peneueta's 24 makes have been from long distance, shooting .417 from three-point range entering the week
THE "PEN"-EUETA IS MIGHTIER
• Thanks to those 142 makes from beyond the arc, Peneueta now ranks among the school's top 10 in the category, matching Sarah Stapp (142 from 1992-96) for 10th place on the list
• Her career .454 (142-for-313) three-point percentage would also be a record if the season ended today
• Peneueta holds the top two single-season three-point marks in school history (minimum 25 three-pointers made), shooting 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 a year later during the Hornets' Big Sky championship season
DELICIOUS DISH
• Junior guard Benthe Versteeg continues to find her teammates for baskets with pinpoint accuracy
• Versteeg averaged 5.5 apg in the Hornets' two games last weekend, including a team-high seven helpers at Eastern Washington -- her sixth game with at least seven assists this season and the 13th time in 16 games that the junior has led the team in that category
• The Big Sky leader in both total assists and assists per game a season ago, Versteeg has 38 assists in her last five games (7.6 apg) -- the same amount as her previous eight games combined
• The junior now has 85 assists on the season -- a total that leads the Big Sky in both overall and assists per game (5.67 apg) -- and now has 323 for her career, passing Justyce Dawson (312 from 2014-18) for fifth on the all-time list
• With 50 more helpers, Versteeg will tie Julie Wastell (373 from 1995-99) for fourth
• Versteeg's career total ranks as the second-most among active players in the Big Sky, trailing only Montana State's Esmeralda Morales (342)
• Versteeg's 10 assists as part of a double-double at Portland State (Jan. 4) marked her sixth career game with double digits in the category and one of only three such games in the Big Sky this year along with Montana's Mack Konig, who had 11 assists against South Dakota State and 10 more against Southeastern
LOOK FOR THE HELPERS
• Versteeg and teammate Sofia Alonso (seventh with 3.33 apg) give the Hornets two of the top-10 playmakers in the Big Sky entering this weekend's contests
• Sacramento State is one of three schools that have two players among the top 10 in assists along with Northern Arizona (Leia Beattie and Taylor Feldman) and Idaho (Hope Hassmann and Olivia Nelson)
• Senior Jaydia Martin (2.50 apg), gives the Hornets three in the top 15 -- the only school to accomplish that feat entering this week's league lid-lifters
SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT COMBINATION
• Sacramento State's starting five opened the year with some stability, putting the same five players on the floor to tip-off the first five games of the season
• However, since then, illness and injury have joined forces to throw a wrench into the Hornet lineup as Sacramento State has used nine different starting five's over the course of its last 11 games
• In those 11 games, only two lineups have been used more than once: Versteeg, Alonso, Falk, Martin, and Fatoumata Jaiteh (vs. Abliene Christian and New Mexico) as well as Versteeg, Falk, Martin, Peneueta, and Jaiteh against Portland State and Idaho
SWIPER, NO SWIPING!
• Sacramento State ranks third in the Big Sky in both steals (158) and steals per game (9.88) entering this week's contests
• The team's 158 steals through 16 games are closing in on last year's total of 207 over 31 contests -- which were the most by a Hornet squad since the 2019-20 team finished with 282
• Sacramento State has four players ranked in the top 15 in the league in steals: Benthe Versteeg (8th, 1.73 spg), Sofia Alonso (11th, 1.67 spg), Jaydia Martin (14th, 1.56 spg), and Lina Falk (15th, 1.44 spg)
• Versteeg leads the team with nine multi-steal games this year, followed by Martin and Falk, who have eight
• As a team, the Hornets have eight games with at least 10 steals, doubling up last year's total of five
MINUTE WOMEN
• Martin's 519 minutes played this season (32.43 mpg) are the fourth-most among Big Sky players
• The Hornets have three players ranked among the top 10 in minutes per game: Martin (fifth), Versteeg (seventh, 31.94 mpg), and Falk (ninth, 31.53 mpg)
JUST WIN, BABY
• The Hornets' win at Portland State on Jan. 4 was their smallest margin of victory this season, ending a run of nine-straight double-digit wins dating back to last year
• Before that, all seven of Sacramento State's wins this season had been by double figures -- five of those by 27 points or more -- following its 27-point win over San Jose State back on Dec. 15
• Sacramento State's 39-point triumph over Wagner on Dec. 1 was the largest since a 59-point win over Pacific Union on Dec. 19, 2019, and the largest against a Division I opponent since a 48-point triumph over Portland State on Jan. 23, 2016
• 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
PUT A LID ON IT
• In holding San Jose State to just 39 points back on Dec. 15, it marked the second time this season -- and the first time in the program's Division I history -- that the Hornets have held two opponents to fewer than 40 points in a single season (Wagner finished with just 34 on Dec. 1)
• The 34 points allowed to Wagner were the fewest surrendered in a game in the program's Division I history and the fewest by a Sacramento State opponent since a 78-29 win over Concordia College on Nov. 22, 1990
• The 39 points scored by the Spartans were tied for the third fewest in the program's Division I history, matching a 45-39 win over New Mexico State on Dec. 31, 2004
• Overall from the field, Wagner shot just .245 (12-for-49) for the game, which stands as the lowest by a Hornet opponent since Pacific Union shot the same percentage in the aforementioned 2019 meeting and the lowest by a Division I opponent in the program's Division I history
• Prior to making the jump to the Division I level, one would have to go all the way back to Feb. 12, 1991, to find a lower percentage by a Sacramento State opponent as the Hornets held Cal State East Bay to just .239 (16-for-68) shooting in an 81-38 win
• Along with the 40 points allowed to Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 14, three of the five fewest opponent point totals in the program's Division I history have come this year
• Of the top 15 lowest point totals by an opponent in that same stretch, 10 of those have come at The Nest
