SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Following a gritty road victory at UC San Diego to open its road trip, the Sacramento State women's basketball looks to close its stay in Southern California with another win, traveling to Long Beach State on Saturday (Nov. 15) for a 2 p.m. tip-off at the Walter Pyramid on ESPN Plus.
GAME #5
WHAT: Sacramento State (3-1, 0-0 Big Sky) at Long Beach State (0-3, 0-0 Big West)
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 15, 2024
TIME: 2 PM PT
WHERE: Long Beach, Calif.
ARENA: Walter Pyramid
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: LongBeachState.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Long Beach State | Big Sky Conference
THE COACHES
• Sacramento State's Aaron Kallhoff enters his third year at the helm of the Hornets' program, posting a 24-44 mark and a 102-120 overall record in seven-plus seasons as a head coach
• Kallhoff claimed his 100th career win as a head coach in Sacramento State's 2025-26 season-opening win over Stanton University
• Amy Wright is in her third year as the Long Beach State head coach, posting an 31-35 record with The Beach
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 3,000 fans -- nearly 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 The Big West beginning in 2026-27
• Sacramento State could possibly face 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 league 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 straight season
• Bolstering the roster is a class of nine 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 three 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 BEACH
• Long Beach State enters Saturday's contest with an 0-3 record, having lost to Wyoming (72-39), Colorado State (73-34), and future conference rival California Baptist (83-60)
• Long Beach State has lost its last four straight overall dating back to its opening-round loss to UC Riverside in last year's Big West Tournament
• Sophomore guard JaQuoia Jones-Brown was a Big West All-Freshman Team selection last season and leads the team in scoring (15.0 ppg) and shares the lead in rebound (7.0 rpg) this year
• As a team, Long Beach State is averaging only 44.3 ppg and shooting .276 from the field overall, while opponents are averaging 76.0 ppg and shooting .439 from the floor
SERIES NOTABLES
• Long Beach State leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 6-2
• The Beach have won the last two meetings, including a 69-68 victory in Sacramento last year that was the first contest between the two programs in 12 years
• Both of the Hornets' wins in the series have come at home: a 73-60 triumph in 1997 and a 74-67 victory in 2011
• Sacramento State is 0-2 in Long Beach -- the last a 74-71 defeat in 2012 -- and is also 0-2 against The Beach on a neutral floor
• All but one of the eight all-time meetings between the two programs have been decided by seven points or fewer -- the lone outlier being Sacramento State's 13-point win in 1997
CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State is a combined 91-107 against the current alignment of The Big West
• Saturday's game marks the second in a run of four-straight contests against the conference, with home games against Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis to come in the next 10 days
• Wednesday's win over UC San Diego snapped a two-game skid against Big West schools after going 2-2 against the league in 2024-25
• Sacramento State posted wins over UC San Diego (71-50) and Cal State Fullerton (67-40), while falling to Long Beach State (69-68) and UC Davis (75-45) last year
PICTURE WORTH A THOUSAND POINTS
• Versteeg enters her final collegiate season closing in on a milestone, needing just 150 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 moved into sixth on the all-time minutes played list with 3,031 and, if she's able to replicate her total from each of the last two seasons, would set a new school record
• With her 23 assists over her first four games this season, Versteeg now has 469 for her career, moving her past Heather Baker (1989-93) into second on the school's all-time list, trailing only record-holder Fantasia Hilliard (726 from 2011-15), on that chart
• Among other top 10s, Versteeg is just 106 made field goals, 71 more free throws made, and 30 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)
• 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)
NO "GRAY" AREA HERE
• Sophomore guard Rubi Gray had herself a career night to remember in Wednesday's win at UC San Diego
• Gray finished with a career-high 24 points in the win, while also setting new single-game career benchmarks in field goals (8), three-pointers (4), free throws (4), rebounds (4), blocks (3), and minutes (38)
• Half of her scoring came in the second quarter alone against the Tritons when she finished 4-of-6 from the field and 4-of-4 from beyond the arc
• The 24 points made her the first Hornet to score 20-or-more points this season and was the most by a Sacramento State player since teammate Benthe Versteeg finished with 24 against Northern Arizona in the second round of last year's Big Sky Tournament
• Gray nearly tripled-up her previous career scoring high of nine points set in this year's season opener against Stanton University
THREEEE-CO-LA
• Gray's 4-for-4 from beyond the arc was part of a larger 7-for-7 performance by the team from three-point range which included long-distance scores from Fatoumata Jaiteh, Benthe Versteeg, and Natalie Picton
• The seven makes from beyond the arc were the most since the Hornets drained 7-of-9 against Idaho State in an opening-round Big Sky Tournament win on March 9, 2024
CHAIRWOMEN OF THE BOARDS
• The Hornets dominated the glass at UC San Diego on Wednesday, grabbing 53 rebounds and 16 on the offensive end
• The 53 boards tied the team's season high, matching the work done against Stanton in the season opener, and are the most against a Division I opponent under Head Coach Aaron Kallhoff
• The previous high against a Division I opponent was 51 at Northern Arizona in an 82-66 win at Northern Arizona on Feb. 15, 2024
• Overall, the rebound total was the highest since the Hornets grabbed 61 total as part of a 90-34 win over Pacific Union on Dec. 19, 2019
• Five players finished with at least six rebounds at UC San Diego, including season high's by Jaiteh, Elizabeth Abiara (eight), Versteeg, and Brooklyn Taylor
• Meanwhile, the six rebounds by Keanna Salave'a marked her fourth consecutive game with at least five, while Tali Fa'i grabbed a Hornet career high five boards
MISS STEAL YOUR BALL
• Junior guard Natalie Picton has been sneaky to start the season, finishing with multiple steals in all four of the Hornets' contests thus far
• Picton's 14 swipes put her atop the Big Sky standings in that category as of Nov. 12 and also ranks her No. 8 in the nation thus far
• Her five steals in her Hornet debut against Stanton are tied for the third-most (along with teammate Rubi Gray and five others) in a game by a Big Sky player this season
• As a team, the 26 steals against Stanton were four shy of the program's single-game mark of 30 set against Portland State on Feb. 7, 2015
• The total was also the highest in six seasons for the Hornets, who last posted a 20-plus steal game against Cal Maritime on Nov. 13, 2019, finishing with 28 in that contest
DELICIOUS DISH
• Add six more assists to the ledger for Versteeg, who has posted five-or-more helpers in each of the first four games of the season
• Her total of 23 assists puts her atop the Big Sky and ranks No. 7 in the nation as of Nov. 12
• Versteeg's 5.75 assists per game are No. 43 in the NCAA and rank second in the league
• Her 23 assists are three ahead of last year's four-game pace when she finished the season tying her own single-season record of 208
• With her seven assists in the opener against Stanton, Versteeg posted her 31st career game with seven-or-more assists -- all of those coming in the last two-plus seasons (a total of 67 games)
SHE GIVETH AND SHE TAKETH AWAY
• Only three schools have a player ranked among the top 10 in the nation in assists and steals (as of Nov. 12)
• Joining the Sacramento State duo of Versteeg (7th in assists) and Picton (t8th in steals) is Florida's Liv McGill (t8th in assists and t5th in steals) along with James Madison's duo of Zakiya Stephenson (t8th in assists) and Bree Robinson (t3rd in steals)
HAPPY FOURTH!
• Picton and Taylor helped the Hornets secure the win over UC San Diego on Wednesday with huge fourth quarters, combining for 16 of the team's 24 points in the period
• Picton scored 10 of her 13 points in the final 10 minutes -- including 5-of-6 from the line -- matching the second-highest scoring single quarter by a Hornet this year
• Taylor finished with six points and three rebounds, with both of her field goals in the quarter turning a three-point lead into a seven-point advantage as part of an 11-2 game-deciding run
NEW BENCH MARK
• Sacramento State has benefited from its depth over the first four games of the season as the Hornet bench has outscored their counterparts at the other end of the court by a 133-35 total
• The bench has contributed at least 20 points in three of the team's first four games, including a whopping 72 in the opener against Stanton
• Sacramento State's reserves are averaging 33.3 ppg as of Nov. 12 -- ranking second in the Big Sky and No. 52 in the NCAA
SHOOTING BLANKS
• Dating back to last season, Sacramento State's defense has held six of its last seven opponents -- and 10 of its last 12 -- to under 40 percent from the field, including 28 percent by Northern Arizona in a Big Sky Tournament meeting last year
• Six of those 12 opponents have made 20 (or fewer) field goals in a game, including only 12 by Weber State on Feb. 20 last season
• Meanwhile, the Hornets' offense has shot 40 percent or better eight times in that same span
