PORTLAND, Ore. — Junior Fatoumata Jaiteh finished with a game- and collegiate-high 28 points while classmate Benthe Versteeg put home the decisive free throws with 19 seconds remaining in overtime, helping the Sacramento State women's basketball team erase an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit and outlast homestanding Portland State for a 76-74 extra-time victory on Saturday afternoon at Viking Pavilion.
Playing in their first game since Dec. 20, the Hornets snapped a brief two-game skid and improved to 8-6 overall and 1-0 in Big Sky Conference play — their second league-opening victory in their last three chances. Sacramento State played its first overtime game since Feb. 9, 2023, against Northern Arizona and posted an overtime victory for the first time since sinking UC Santa Barbara, 70-68, earlier that same season on Nov. 19.
Led by 27 points from Alaya Fitzgerald, the Vikings fell to 3-7 overall and 0-1 in league play.
It was nearly a record-setting day for Jaiteh, who finished 6-of-7 from the floor overall and an astounding 16-of-19 from the free throw line en route to her career-high total. The 28 points doubled-up her previous career high of 14 points set at Montana while playing at Northern Arizona on Jan. 5, 2023, and demolished her previous Sac State career high of 10 points set against Cal State Fullerton and matched against UC Davis earlier this year.
Jaiteh started 6-for-6 from the floor before missing her first shot in the overtime period, falling just one make shy of the program's Division I single-game shooting record of 7-for-7 from the field accomplished by Isnelle Natabou against Fresno State on Dec. 3, 2022. Meanwhile, the 16 makes from the free throw line were the most by a Hornet since All-American Kristy Ryan made 17 at UC Irvine on Dec. 4, 1993, and were just two shy of Ryan's school single-game record of 18 against Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 8, 1994.
Senior
Jaydia Martin posted her eighth-straight double-digit scoring performance on the season, finishing with 18 points to go with seven rebounds, five assists, and two steals, while playing all 45 minutes. Versteeg added her sixth career double-double on the day with 10 points — including 4-of-4 from the line — and 10 assists, posting a season-high in the latter and her sixth career contest with 10-or-more assists.
Sophomore
Lina Falk grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and narrowly missed a double-double by adding nine points and three steals while also playing all 45 minutes.
Sacramento State was down by only three with 3:38 remaining in the third quarter before Portland State found another gear, closing the quarter on an 8-2 run and adding the first basket of the fourth quarter to go up by 11 points just 45 seconds into the final stanza.
That's when the Hornets began to chip away. A Martin lay-up keyed a 7-0 run that made it a four-point contest and forced a Viking timeout as Sacramento State remained within arms length before rallying to tie the game late.
Lina Falk and Jaiteh scored back-to-back baskets to make it a two-point deficit with 3:18 remaining in regulation and the Hornets trailed by just three after Fitzgerald finished 1-of-2 at the line.
Both teams traded turnovers and missed shots until senior
Katie Peneueta, who was inducted into the Heritage High School Hall of Fame on Friday, came up huge, draining her only three-pointer of the night with 1:45 remaining, completing the comeback and tying the game at 62.
Rhema Ogele scored for Portland State on her team's next possession only to have Versteeg float in another game-tying score 13 seconds later to make it 64 all. Neither team could find the bottom of the net the rest of the way as the Vikings' Lana Wenger missed a potential winner at the buzzer to send the teams to overtime.
Martin opened the extra period with a basket that gave the Hornets an early lead, but a jumper by Wenger and a lay-up off a turnover by Kyleigh Brown turned the tide in favor of the home team with 3:10 left to play.
The Hornets then made a living at the line, finishing 8-of-8 from the charity stripe in the final 2:20 — six of those by Jaiteh that made it 72-70 in favor of Sacramento State with just under 90 seconds to play.
Martin and Fitzgerald then traded baskets that made it 74-all with 36 seconds to play before Versteeg put the Hornets ahead for good, sinking two at the line with 19 seconds remaining after she was fouled on a floater in the lane.
Portland State had one more opportunity, but Fitzgerald's three-point attempt from well beyond the three-point line at the left elbow clanged off the rim and the Hornets' ran out the clock for the win.
Sacramento State, which won the fourth quarter by a 23-14 count, shot .453 from the field overall to the Vikings' .460 for the game, but the Hornets were blisteringly hot in the second half, sinking 57 percent from the field to 41 percent for Portland State to power the comeback.
A run of five straight road games comes to an end for Sacramento State next week as the Hornets return to the Pacific Northwest to take on Idaho on Thursday (Jan. 9) at 6 p.m., and Eastern Washington on Saturday (Jan. 11) at 2 p.m. in week two of the Big Sky season.
