SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Having played five of its first seven Big Sky Conference contests on the road, the Sacramento State women's basketball team closes out the first go-round in league play at home, tipping-off a run of four straight at The Nest against the Montana schools this week. The Hornets begin on Thursday (Jan. 30) against league-leading and unbeaten Montana State at 6:30 p.m., before ringing in the month of February on Saturday (Feb. 1) against Montana at 2 p.m.

GAME #21
WHAT: Montana State (18-2, 8-0 Big Sky) at Sacramento State (10-10, 3-4 Big Sky)
WHEN: Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025
TIME: 6:30 PM PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
ARENA: The Nest
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

GAME #22
WHAT: Montana (7-12, 3-5 Big Sky) at Sacramento State (10-10, 3-4 Big Sky)
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025
TIME: 2 PM PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
ARENA: The Nest
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com

GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Montana State | Montana

ABOUT THE BOBCATS
• League-leading Montana State enters the week atop the Big Sky standings with an 18-2 overall record and a perfect 8-0 mark in the league
• The Bobcats have won their last 11 straight games, having not lost since a two-point overtime defeat at Oral Roberts as part of the Big Sky-Summit Challenge on Dec. 7
• MSU's only other loss was a 19-point defeat at the hands of Utah on Nov. 24
• Montana State's only two losses of the year have come on the road, going 6-2 in true road games and winning its last five
• Guard Esmeralda Morales, a transfer from Portland State, leads the team in scoring at 14.3 ppg, three-pointers made with 41, and assists with 70
• Forward Marah Dykstra is also in double figures (13.3 ppg) while shooting .469 from the field

SERIES NOTABLES
• Montana State leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 46-13
• The Bobcats swept the regular season series from the Hornets in 2023-24 with a six-point win in Bozeman and a four-point win in Sacramento
• MSU has won 12 of the last 13 in the series with Sacramento State, with the lone Hornet win coming on Feb. 23, 2023, at home by an 82-73 score
• Eight of Sacramento State's 13 wins in the series have come at The Nest, including their last four regular-season wins against Montana State

ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES
• Montana enters the week with a 7-12 overall record and a 3-5 mark in Big Sky play, standing sixth in the league -- one-half game back of Sacramento State
• The Grizzlies face Portland State on Thursday before making the trip to Northern California
• Montana is coming off an 0-2 week, falling at Idaho on Monday before being edged out by rival Montana State on Saturday by a single point a home
• The Grizzlies are just 1-6 away from home this season and have lost two more on a neutral floor 
• Junior Mack Konig leads the team in scoring at 10.8 ppg and in assists with 93
• Dani Bartsch is the team's leader on the glass at 6.3 rpg to go with 7.8 ppg and is one of four players who have made 20-or-more three's this season, hitting a team-high 32 for the year

SERIES NOTABLES
• Montana leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 49-9
• The Grizzlies swept the regular season series from the Hornets in 2023-24, posting an 84-57 win in Missoula and edging Sacramento State on the road by a point 58-57, thanks to a free throw with 0.7 remaining
• Montana has won 12 of the last 14 meetings dating back to the 2018 Big Sky Tournament
• Sacramento State's last win in the series came on Feb. 25, 2023, with a 63-56 triumph at home
• Seven of the Hornets' nine wins in the series have come at The Nest
• Each of the last five head-to-head meetings at The Nest have been decided by seven points or fewer

YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN
• Sacramento State's win over Northern Colorado on Jan. 18 improved the Hornets to 6-2 at The Nest this year, winning for the ninth time in their last 13 contests dating back to last season with the three-point triumph over the Bears
• The six victories at home are the most since the 2022-23 squad finished 11-2

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH US
• Sacramento State has been strong in the fourth quarter as of late, "winning" the final stanza in four of its last five contests and playing even in the other
• The Hornets are plus-29 (104-75) in those five fourth quarters, including a plus-12 in the win over Idaho State
• As a team, Sacramento State is shooting .449 (35-for-78) from the field and .813 (26-for-32) from the line in that stretch, averaging 20.8 points per fourth quarter
• Defensively, the Hornets are holding opponents to just .333 (18-for-54) shooting in the last five fourth quarters, including just .304 (7-of-23) from three-point range
• Sacramento State has also forced into 33 turnovers in that stretch (compared to 15 for the Hornets)

BENTHE VERSTEEG AND THE FORTY MINUTES
• When it comes to minutes, there is nothing "minute" (my-NOOT) about it for junior Benthe Versteeg
• The Hornets' point guard went the distance in both of the team's contests last week, playing a complete game for the second and third times in her last four games and the third and fourth times overall this year
• Over her last four, Versteeg has missed only 1:33 of game time
• All told, Versteeg has played a full 40 minutes on 16 different occasions in her Hornet career, while playing at least 39 minutes in 13 other contests

MINUTE WOMEN
• Speaking of minutes, the Hornets have three players ranked among the top seven in the league in minutes played entering the week
• Versteeg is second in the Big Sky at 33.55 mpg, followed by Falk in sixth (32.24 mpg) and Martin in seventh (32.06 mpg)
• Sacramento State is the only school with three players among the top 10, with Portland State and Northern Arizona logging two apiece

PASSES OR POINTS?
• When Versteeg isn't finding her teammates for baskets, the junior is dabbling in some scoring of her own, putting up a season-high 23 points to go with six rebounds and six assists at Idaho State on Jan. 23
• The performance marked her second 20-point game of the season (she had 21 at Eastern Washington on Jan. 11) and the fourth of her career, while posting her 12th game with five-or-more assists
• Add in her 11-point night at Weber State and Versteeg has reached double figures in six of the seven contests since the start of Big Sky play, averaging 13.4 ppg and 6.0 apg in that stretch while raising her overall season average from 9.3 ppg to 10.8 ppg entering this week
• Overall, the junior has finished with double-digit points 13 times and has led the team in scoring five times

FATOU FANTASTIC
• Need some points? Need a rebound or two? How about a steal? Junior Fatoumata Jaiteh has done a little bit of everything for the Hornets as of late
• Aside from sharing the team lead in rebounding against Weber State, she also came through with a game-high five steals -- the second time in the last three games she has posted that many
• Of her 29 steals -- which rank tied for third on the team -- 19 of those have come in her last six games, averaging 3.17 spg in that stretch
• She is also averaging 7.25 rpg over her last four games, which included a career-high 13 rebounds against Northern Arizona on Jan. 16
• Of those 29 rebounds in that stretch, nearly half (14) of those have been on the offensive end -- including six of those 13 against the Lumberjacks

THREE FOR 15
• Sacramento State is one of two Big Sky schools to have three players rank among the top 15 scorers in the conference entering the week
• Jaydia Martin (3rd), Lina Falk (13th), and Benthe Versteeg (14th) make up the Hornets' contingent joining a trio from Northern Arizona, which has all three of its top scorers in the top 10

DELICIOUS DISH
• Junior guard Benthe Versteeg continues to find her teammates for baskets with pinpoint accuracy
• Versteeg has led the team in assists 16 times in 20 games this season
• The Big Sky leader in both total assists and assists per game a season ago, Versteeg has 59 assists in her last seven games (6.56 apg)
• The junior now has 106 assists on the season -- a total that leads the Big Sky in both overall and assists per game (5.58 apg) -- and now has 344 for her career, passing Justyce Dawson (312 from 2014-18) for fifth on the all-time list
• With 29 more helpers, Versteeg will tie Julie Wastell (373 from 1995-99) for fourth
• Versteeg is the first Hornet to post 100 assists in back-to-back seasons since Fantasia Hilliard led the team in all four of her seasons in the green and gold (2011-15)
• Versteeg's career total ranks as the second-most among active players in the Big Sky, trailing only Montana State's Esmeralda Morales (357)

SWIPER, NO SWIPING!
• Sacramento State ranks third in the Big Sky in both steals (193) and steals per game (9.65) entering this week's contests
• The team's 193 steals through 20 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: Fatoumata Jaiteh (7th, 1.71 spg), Jaydia Martin (t10th, 1.55 spg), Benthe Versteeg (12th, 1.53 spg), and Lina Falk (13th, 1.50 spg).
• Versteeg and Falk share the team lead with 10 multi-steal games this year, followed by Martin with nine and Jaiteh with eight
• The Hornets have 10 games with at least 10 steals, doubling up last year's total of five

UNLUCKY 13
• After going nearly two months with double digits in the scoring column, the scoring problem that is Jaydia Martin was finally solved... for now
• Weber State limited the Hornet leading scorer to just nine points in its win on Jan. 25, putting an end to Martin's run of 13 consecutive games with 10-or-more points dating back to Nov. 29 against Abilene Christian
• Although she finished with only nine points, she led the team with seven assists, setting a new collegiate high in the category
• During that time, Martin topped the 20-point plateau four times -- including a 31-point effort against Kansas City on Dec. 4 that remains tied for the most points by a Big Sky player this season entering the week
• Martin, who enters the week ranked No. 3 in the Big Sky in scoring, has reached double figures in 15 of the team's 20 contests overall and has led the team in scoring in a team-high eight games
• During her run, Martin averaged 17.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, and 3.23 apg, while shooting .471 (89-for-189)

SHE'S JUST KATIE FROM THE BLOCK
• Senior Katie Peneueta is proving to be a problem inside for opposing shooters, collecting four blocks last week against Idaho State and Weber State to give her a team-high 20 on the year
• Her 1.67 bpg would rank second in the Big Sky behind only Northern Arizona's Sophie Glancey (1.76 bpg) for the league lead if Peneueta met the league minimum for games played this year
• Of Peneueta's 20 blocks, 19 of those have come over the last eight games, averaging 2.38 bpg in that span
• She now has 83 for her career, solidifying her hold on sixth place on the school's all-time list and ranking second among active Big Sky players behind Glancey (89)
• With 17 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) -- still 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 63 career games with the Hornets, Peneueta has made a living from long distance, sinking 146 of 172 career field goals (84.9 percent) 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, 19 of Peneueta's 33 makes have been from long distance, shooting .396 from three-point range entering the week

THE "PEN"-EUETA IS MIGHTIER
• Thanks to those 146 makes from beyond the arc, Peneueta now ranks among the school's top 10 in the category, passing Sarah Stapp (142 from 1992-96) for 10th place on the list
• She needs six more makes to match Emily Christensen (152 from 2007-12) for ninth
• Her career .449 (146-for-325) three-point percentage would also be a record -- by a wide margin -- 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

START ME UP
• The Sacramento State starting five has accounted for nearly 90 percent of the team's scoring (401 of 449 points) over the Hornets' last seven 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)

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 15 games
• In those 15 games, only two lineups have been used more than once: Versteeg, Alonso, Falk, Martin, and Fatoumata Jaiteh (vs. Abilene Christian and New Mexico) as well as Versteeg, Falk, Martin, Peneueta, and Jaiteh in six games against Portland State, Idaho, Northern Arizona, and Northern Colorado
• In all, the Hornets have used 10 different starting lineups this season

"ONE POINT, THAT'S ALL WE GOT?"
• The Hornets' defense was on point to help power the team's comeback against Northern Colorado on Jan. 18, holding the Bears to a single point in the fourth quarter on a free throw just 16 seconds into the period
• Sacramento State limited UNC to 0-for-7 from the field and nine turnovers in the decisive fourth and 1-for-13 with 10 turnovers in the final 15:09 during the Hornets' game-clinching 19-4 run
• That one point is the fewest points that Sacramento State has allowed in a quarter since the NCAA moved to four periods for women's basketball in 2015-16
• In fact, four of the six lowest-scoring quarters by a Hornet opponent have come this season: a four-point fourth at Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 14) and a four-point first and third quarters against Wagner (Dec. 1)

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