SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After leading the Big Sky Conference in assists and assists per game for the second straight season, Sacramento State senior guard Benthe Versteeg was named the league's preseason Most Valuable Player on Thursday.
Versteeg becomes the first player in school history to be so honored and the first Hornet to earn a pair of preseason all-league awards after becoming only the fourth All-Big Sky preseason pick as a junior last season. Versteeg joins former Sacramento State standouts Brianna Burgos (2016-17), Kennedy Nicholas (2019-20), and Isnelle Natabou (2022-23) to earn a spot on the preseason all-conference team.
Earlier this week, she was also the preseason pick for Big Sky Player of the Year according to ESPN.com's Charlie Creme, who released his player of the year list for all 32 Division I conferences ahead of this year's campaign. Versteeg is the second Hornet in the last four years to earn that honor after former teammate Isnelle Natabou was picked by the media outlet prior to the 2022-23 season.
The honors make for an even more crowded mantel for Versteeg, who enters this season as a two-time All-Big Sky selection (second-team honors as a sophomore and first-team honors as a junior), a two-time All-Big Sky Tournament Team choice, and a two-time league all-defensive team pick.
She is the only Hornet to make the league's all-tournament team twice in the program's history and the only player in the last two years to earn a spot on the all-tournament team without being a member of one of the four semifinalists.
The two-time Big Sky assist queen enters her final collegiate season after leading the league in total assists (208) and assists per game (6.50), while also averaging 12.0 ppg and 5.0 rpg. Her 208 assists tied her own single-season school record and marked only the 12th time in Big Sky history that a player has finished with more than 200 assists in a season.
Versteeg's passing exploits made her the first player to league the league in assists in back-to-back seasons since former Sacramento State standout Fantasia Hilliard did so in three straight years from 2012-15. Nationally, she finished ninth in the country in total assists and fifth in assists per game.
She enters the 2025-26 campaign needing just 191 points to become the 19th Hornet to reach 1,000 points in a career and the first since Summer Menke in 2022. Versteeg's 446 career assists rank her third on the school's all-time list, while she also enters the year ranked ninth in minutes played (2,910) and stands just outside the career top-10 in field goals made, free throws made, and steals.
Sacramento State officially tips-off the 2025-26 season on Nov. 3 in its new home at the Hornet Pavilion against Stanton University at 6:30 p.m. Three of this year's opponents reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago, while three more combined to earn berths in the NCAA Women's Basketball Invitational and Postseason WNIT.
2025-26 PRESEASON ALL-BIG SKY WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM
MVP - Benthe Versteeg, 5-9, Sr., G, Sacramento State
Mack Konig, 5-9, Sr., G, Montana
Taylee Chirrick, 5-11, So., G, Montana State
Kourtney Grossman, 6-0, So., F, Eastern Washington
Avery Waddington, 6-3, So., G, Montana
Hope Hassmann, 5-8, Jr., G, Idaho
