SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State women's basketball team officially tips off its 36th season of Division I basketball on Monday night (Nov. 3) at 6:30 p.m., welcoming the NAIA's Stanton University for the 2025-26 regular season opener. It will be the first intercollegiate contest played in the Hornet Pavilion at The WELL on campus.

GAME #1
WHAT: Stanton University (0-1, 0-0 CalPac) at Sacramento State (0-0, 0-0 Big Sky)
WHEN: Monday, Nov. 3, 2024
TIME: 6:30 p.m. PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
ARENA: Hornet Pavilion
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetSports.com
TICKETS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Stanton University

THE COACHES
• Sacramento State's Aaron Kallhoff is entering his third year at the helm of the Hornets' program, going 21-43 mark in his first two seasons
• Demetris Harris is the head coach at Stanton University

NEW NEST
•  After spending most of its history playing at The Nest, both the Sacramento State men's and women's basketball teams transition its home contests to the Hornet Pavilion located inside The WELL, an on-campus fitness complex that has renovated a portion of the facility to serve as the new home of the Hornets.
• The venue will seat approximately 3,200 fans -- more than tripling the capacity of The Nest
• It was a giant facelift for the facility featuring (among other enhancements): re-striping of all courts to include the game court, telescopic bleachers around the center court, two new video boards, LED ribbon boards, new scoreboards, a new sound system, removal and replacement of existing lighting, new press tables and courtside seats, and new branding promoting Sacramento State and the city of Sacramento

"BIG" NEWS FOR 2026
• The 2025-26 campaign marks the 30th -- and final -- season as a member of the Big Sky Conference for the Hornets, who announced plans to move to the Big West Conference beginning in 2026-27
• Sacramento State has the possibility of facing four of its future league rivals this year: UC San Diego (Nov. 12), Long Beach State (Nov. 15), Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 21), and UC Santa Barbara (Nov. 29)
• Another Big West opponent -- Causeway rival UC Davis -- is also on the schedule (Nov. 24), but the Aggies are departing for the Mountain West Conference following this year
• The Big West will be the third conference for the Hornets in their Division I history after playing in the America West Conference along with Cal Poly, CSUN, and Southern Utah from 1994-96, and then joining the Big Sky in 1996-97

ABOUT THE HORNETS
• Sacramento State returns two starters and six letter winners overall off of last season's squad that finished 15-18 overall and 7-11 in Big Sky play
• The Hornets advanced to at least the second round of the conference tournament for the third consecutive season
• Bolstering the roster is an incoming class of eight newcomers from across all levels of basketball -- a group that includes three Division I transfers, another from a prominent NAIA program, two from the junior college ranks, and a pair of standout freshmen
• Record-setting senior guard Benthe Versteeg is the leading returning scorer after averaging 12.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, and 6.5 apg, while earning All-Big Sky first-team, Big Sky All-Defensive Team, and Big Sky All-Tournament honors for the second straight year
• Senior forward Fatoumata Jaiteh also returns after starting 27 of her 30 appearances a season ago, averaging 7.8 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, while finishing tied for second on the team with 45 steals

ABOUT THE FIGHTING ELKS
• Stanton University is entering its inaugural season at the NAIA level as a member of the CalPac Conference that also features Cal Maritime, Northern New Mexico College, Pacific Union, Simpson, Westcliff, Central Christian College of Kansas, and Walla Walla University
• The Elks opened their season on Tuesday (Oct. 28), falling to Hope International by a 92-19 score
• Forward Melana Goodloe nearly finished with a double-double, scoring eight points and grabbing 10 rebounds
• Stanton shot just under 18 percent for the game overall and committed 28 turnovers
• Located in Anaheim, Calif., the Elks finished 0-13 last season in their second year as an athletic program, competing in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association
• Stanton welcomes 10 new players to the roster for the 2025-26 season: four international players, one from Oklahoma, one from North Carolina, and four from California

SERIES NOTABLES
• Monday marks the first-ever meeting between Sacramento State and Stanton University 

M-V-P! M-V-P!
• For the first time in the history of the program, the preseason Big Sky Conference MVP resides in Sacramento as senior guard Benthe Versteeg was named the league's top player to kick-off the 2025-26 campaign
• It's another award on the mantel for the decorated Versteeg, who enters this season as a two-time All-Big Sky selection (first-team honors as a junior), a two-time Big Sky all-tournament team choice, and a two-time all-defensive team selection
• She is the only Hornet to make the league's all-tournament team twice in the program's history and the only player to earn a spot on the all-tournament team without being a member of one of the four semifinal qualifiers in each of the last two years

HONORS FROM THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
• In addition to her MVP award from the Big Sky, Versteeg was also named the preseason player of the year pick for the league by Charlie Creme on ESPN.com
• She becomes the second Hornet in the last four years to earn the honor after Isnelle Natabou was picked by the media outlet prior to the 2022-23 campaign

TOP HALF HORNETS
• Sacramento State was picked to finish in the upper half of the Big Sky standings to start the 2025-26 season, selected fifth by the coaches and fourth by the media
• The Hornets received 50 points total to finish ahead of Eastern Washington (38) in fifth, trailing preseason favorite Montana State (74 points, 5 first-place votes), Montana (72 points, 3 first-place votes), Idaho (65 points, 1 first-place vote), and Idaho State (57 points, 1 first-place vote)
• Among the media members that cover the league, Sacramento State received a pair of first-place nods and 177 points overall, finishing behind Montana State (11 first-place votes, 238 points), Montana (7 first-place votes, 224 points), and Idaho (7 first-place votes, 220 points)
• Last season, the Hornets were picked fourth by the coaches and sixth by the media

PICTON HONORED WITH KAY YOW SERVANT LEADER AWARD
• Junior guard Natalie Picton was recognized as one of 61 women's basketball student-athletes across all divisions nationwide with the Kay Yow Servant Leader Award
• Picton is the only honoree from the Big Sky Conference
• Now in its second year, the award honors student-athletes "of great character who put the needs of others before their own, who uplift others, and who do it with grace and humility"
• Student-athletes are nominated by their coach, and are people who exemplify Coach Yow's spirit and who reflect her resolve, grace, generosity, and servant's heart
• A complete list of honorees is available by clicking here

LID-LIFTERS
• According to available records dating back to the 1973-74 season, the Hornets are 17-35 all time in regular season openers and 8-26 in the program's Division I era (since 1991-92)
• Monday's game against the Elks marks the third time in the last four seasons that Sacramento State opens the season at home, but only the fourth time in the last 12 lid-lifters
• Only 17 of the 52 combined season openers have come at home with the Hornets posting an 8-9 record in those contests
• Thanks to the win over Jessup University last season, Sacramento State snapped a five-game losing streak in season openers which included contests against Nevada (2019), Idaho (2020), California (2021), UC Irvine (2022), and Washington (2023)
• The Hornets are 25-25 in home openers
• Monday marks only the third time that Sacramento State opens a season against a non-Division I opponent since 1991-92: the Hornets defeated Bethany College from Scotts Valley, Calif., in 2006, and handed Jessup a 78-51 loss to start 2024

KEEPING IT "100"
• With his next victory, Sacramento State head coach Aaron Kallhoff will log his 100th career win as a head coach

PICTURE WORTH A THOUSAND POINTS
• Versteeg enters her final collegiate season closing in on a milestone, needing just 191 more points to reach 1,000 for her career
• Should she reach the plateau, Versteeg would become the 19th Hornet to accomplish the feat and the first since Summer Menke did it in 2022
• Along with her assist total (more on that in a minute), she also ranks ninth on the all-time minutes played list with 2,910 and, if she's able to replicate her total from each of the last two seasons, would set a new school record
• Among other top 10s, Versteeg is just 123 made field goals, 77 more free throws made, and 34 more steals from breaking into those respective lists

BACK TO RUN THE SHOW
• The two-time Big Sky assist queen returns to the floor for her fourth season in the green and gold as Benthe Versteeg looks for a repeat of her last two record-setting campaigns
• After setting the school single-season record with 208 assists in 2023-24, Versteeg matched her own mark with 208 helpers in 2024-25, which ranked her tied for eighth in the Big Sky record books
• It marked the 12th time in Big Sky history that a player accumulated 200 assists in a season and only the third to accomplish the feat since 2012, joining Northern Arizona's Regan Schenck (231 in 2022-23)
•  Versteeg's 6.50 apg last year is tied for the second-highest single-season mark in program history along with Fantasia Hilliard's 2013-14  average -- both of which trailed Versteeg's 6.71 apg in 2023-24
• Versteeg has now led the Big Sky in assists per game in back-to-back seasons -- the first player in league history to do so since Hilliard did so in three straight years from 2012-15 and only the fourth overall since 1988-89 (Montana's Skyla Sisco and Eastern Washington's Jennifer Sutter were the others)
• Versteeg's performance last year marked only the sixth time a Hornet led the league in assists, joining Lianna Tillman (6.04 apg) in 2021-22, Rexanne Rodriguez (5.65 apg) in 2000-01, Tika Koshiyama-Diaz (5.48 apg) in 2010-11, and Hilliard, who did it in three straight seasons: 2012-13 (5.9 apg), 2013-14 (6.5 apg), and 2014-15 (5.8 pg)

ON THE RISE
• Thanks to its 15-win season in 2024-25, Sacramento State boasted a nine-game improvement in the win column from the 2023-24 season — tied for the third-best year-to-year improvement in the program's Division I history 
• The Hornets matched the nine-game improvement from 2010-11 (4-25) to 2011-12 (13-18) and trails only the 11-win improvements from 2020-21 (3-22) to 2021-22 (14-16) and, again, from 2021-22 (14-16) to 2022-23 (25-8)
• Sacramento State's 15 wins in 2024-25 were the second-highest total in the last 10 seasons, behind only the Big Sky Championship/NCAA Tournament season of 25-8 in 2022-23
• The nine wins at home last season were tied for the fifth-most in school history.

PUT A LID ON IT
• A big part of Sacramento State's success last season came on the defensive end where the Hornets limited opponents to just 63.55 ppg, a .381 field goal percentage, and .310 from beyond the arc
• The scoring average ranked as the fourth lowest in school history (and the lowest since surrendering only 59.9 ppg in 2022-23)
• The three-point percentage was the lowest since Sacramento State limited opponents to just .303 from distance in 2018-19
• Overall, the opponent's .3812 field goal percentage was the lowest in the program's Division I history and the lowest -- by mere percentage points (.0007 to be exact) -- since the 1988-89 squad held opponents to .3805 shooting from the floor

SHINING ON THE WORLD STAGE
• Two Hornets saw action on the international stage over the summer as Noemi Arvai represented Hungary at the FIBA U19 Women's World Cup, finishing eighth, while Pinja Paananen joined her Finland teammates at the FISU Summer World University Games in Germany, finishing eighth after posting wins over Argentina, the Czech Republic, and India in group play

WORLDWIDE LEADER
• Of Sacramento State's 15-member roster for 2025-26, six of those student-athletes hail from outside the United States
• The Hornets' roster represents seven different countries: the United States, The Netherlands, Canada, Finland, Australia, Italy, and Hungary
• With the additions of Italy's Elisa Leghissa, Finland's Pinja Paananen, and Canada's Natalie Picton, Sacramento State has now had 21 international players in the program's Division I history -- 19 of those coming in the last eight years
• The six international players rank seventh among schools who responded to a preseason survey (Wagner leads the way with 13 total), while the seven countries represented (including the United States) are tied for third behind San Francisco and Columbia (nine each) and tied alongside Wagner and Tulsa
• Australia leads the way with four former Hornets, followed by three from Germany and Canada, two from Spain and France, and one each from Italy, Finland, The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Brazil
• Leghissa and Paananen are the first student-athletes from their respective nations to represent Sacramento State, while Picton is the first Canadian Hornet since Sarah Craig (Calgary, Alberta) in 2003-04

UNITED STATES OF SACRAMENTO
• In addition to the student-athletes from six different countries, this year's edition of the Hornets also hail from four different states
• Alongside five native Californians (Jeniece Harmon, Brooklyn Taylor, Jamiah Fontenberry, Tali Fa'i, and Sophia Lee), Sacramento State also features natives of Washington (Keanna Salave'a and Fatoumata Jaiteh), Texas (Elizabeth Abiara), and Arizona (Ajong Lual)
• Abiara becomes only the third Texan to play for the Hornets since 1988-89
• Jaiteh and Salave'a are the latest Washingtonians to compete for Sacramento State as the "Evergreen State" is home to 18 Hornets during the program's Division I era -- the most of any state outside of California
• In the program's Division I era, Hornets have called 25 different states home

CALIFORNIA LOVE
• The Hornets have a balanced slate of eight home contests and eight road games to start the 2024-25 season -- a start that doesn't have them leaving the state of California for a game
• Sacramento State doesn't play its first game outside of the "Golden State" until mid-January when the Hornets travel to Flagstaff, Ariz., to take on Northern Arizona on Jan. 15

IRON SHARPENS IRON
• Three of Sacramento State's 2025-26 opponents reached the NCAA Tournament a season ago: California was a No. 8 seed and Big Sky championship Montana State was a No. 13 seed -- both losing in the first round
• Meanwhile, Big West Tournament champion UC San Diego was part of the NCAA's "First Four," before falling to Southern University
• In addition, three other opponents also earned postseason berths: Big Sky rival Northern Arizona was selected to compete in the NCAA Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament, reaching the second round, while Chattanooga (second round) and Pacific (first round) earned berths in the Postseason Women's NIT.

A TALL ORDER
• This year's Sacramento State squad is among the tallest in the program's Division I history, featuring eight players standing six feet or taller
• The number broke the previous mark of seven set in 2001-02 and tied on five other occasions
• The average height for this year's squad is 71.13 inches (roughly five feet, 11 and 1/8 inches... if you're into fractions), which stands second only to the 2023-24 squad that averaged 71.43 inches (roughly five feet, 11 13/32 inches)
• Individually, sophomore Ajong Lual stands at 6-foot-5, which is tied for the tallest player in the program's history along with Alicja Falkowska (2021-22), Isnelle Natabou (2021-23), and Paula Haw (2023-25)

AS THE WORLD TOURNEY'S
• This year marks the ninth straight season (save for the 2019-20 campaign that was canceled by the pandemic) that the Hornets will be playing in a regular season tournament
• Sacramento State travels to Riverside, Calif., to join host California Baptist, Chattanooga, and UC Santa Barbara for the CBU Classic on Nov. 28-29
• The Hornets played in three tournaments last season, finishing 2-4 in those events with wins over Wagner and Kansas City

CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
• Benthe Versteeg is the last remaining piece from the Hornets' 2022-23 Big Sky regular season and tournament championship run that ended in a trip to UCLA for the program's first-ever NCAA berth; however, she is not the only member of the roster with championship experience
• Junior Natalie Picton joins Sacramento State after helping Montana State to a Big Sky regular season and tournament title in 2024-25
• Senior Fatoumata Jaiteh enters her second year with the green and gold after helping Northern Arizona to a share of the 2023 Big Sky regular season crown along with the Hornets
• Junior transfer Keanna Salave'a helped her University of Providence team to a Frontier League tournament championship as a sophomore and twice helped the Argos to the NAIA National Tournament -- including a national runner-up finish as a freshman in 2023-24

BENCH BOSSES
• Joining third-year head coach Aaron Kallhoff on the bench are associate head coach De'Audra Brown, associate head coach Michael Floyd, and assistant coach Jodi Page, along with Women's Basketball Chief of Staff Elexus Trenkle
• A sideline veteran at both the junior college and Division I levels, Brown was elevated to her current position in March of 2024. She was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "30-under-30" coaches list in 2017 and has stops at Hawai'i, New Mexico State, Eastern Arizona College and Seward County CC
• Floyd is the newest member of the staff after spending the last nine seasons at Santa Clara, including helping the Broncos to 14 wins as the program's interim head coach in 2024-25, while enjoying coaching stops at Alabama State, Spring Hill College, Alabama, Troy University, Alabama Southern CC, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, South Alabama, and the University of West Alabama
• Page is in her third year with the Hornets after spending a season at UNC Greensboro in 2022-23, along with stops at New Mexico State, Cal State Fullerton, Arizona State, and Eastern Washington, as well as 20 years coaching in her native Australia
• Trenkle is in her third season at Sacramento State after serving as the men's basketball director of operations at Tarleton in 2022-23 and a graduate assistant for the Texans in 2021-22

NATION'S BEST PLAY IN SACRAMENTO
• For the seventh time in NCAA Tournament history, Sacramento will be a host site for "March Madness" as the Golden 1 Center hosts the regional games of the 2026 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament on March 27-30
• It is the first time that Sacramento will host the NCAA women's basketball tournament and the first time that the city hosts something other than the first or second rounds of the NCAA men's or women's tournaments, with two teams advancing to the Women's "Final Four" in Phoenix, Ariz.
• The Golden 1 Center has hosted the men's first and second rounds in 2017 and 2023, and will again do so in 2027
• Arco Arena also hosted men's first and second round games in 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2007