SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After 11 days without a game for final exams, the Sacramento State women's basketball team returns home for the first time since before Thanksgiving, hosting Simpson University on Monday (Dec. 15) at 6:30 p.m. at Hornet Pavilion.
GAME #11
WHAT: Simpson University (5-2, 0-0 Cal Pac) at Sacramento State (5-5, 0-0 Big Sky)
WHEN: Monday, Dec. 15, 2025
TIME: 6:30 PM PT
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
ARENA: Hornet Pavilion
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: HornetSports.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Simpson | Big Sky Conference
THE COACHES
• Sacramento State's Aaron Kallhoff enters his third year at the helm of the Hornets' program, posting a 26-48 mark and a 104-124 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
• Anthony Taylor is in his first year as head coach of the Simpson women's basketball program
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 RED HAWKS
• Simpson University enters the weekend with a 5-2 overall record, having won its last three straight around an exhibition against Santa Clara
• The Red Hawks open a run of seven-straight road games this weekend in Oregon, traveling to Linfield and Warner Pacific before facing the Hornets on Monday
• Junior guard Destiny Nichols (15.0 ppg, .487 field goal percentage) and senior guard Anna Marshall (14.8 ppg, .436 field goal percentage) are both averaging double figures
• The duo also stands 1-2 in steals (14 and 16, respectively)
• Senior center Cerina Nguyen is averaging nearly a double-double with 9.8 ppg and 8.8 rpg, leading the team in rebounding while also blocking a team-high 14 shots and shooting a team-best .542 from the field
SIMPSON, EH?
• Although Monday's game is an exhibition for the Red Hawks, it will be the first official meeting between the two schools on the Hornets' side in school history
KEEPING IT 1,000
• Versteeg enters this week's contest continuing to inch her way toward a milestone, needing just 87 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
• Versteeg's 913 career points rank second among active Big Sky student-athletes as of Dec. 7, trailing only Montana's Mack Konig (1,127)
SHADES OF GRAY
• Sophomore guard Rubi Gray continued her run of double-digit scoring performances prior to final exams in Stockton, finishing with a game-high 24 points on 9-of-15 from the field against the Tigers, adding four rebounds, three assists, and two steals
• The native of Tasmania has now reached double figures in each of her last seven games -- which now includes a trio of 20-plus point performances -- averaging 18.4 ppg and 3.7 rpg while shooting .505 (51-for-101) from the field overall
• The 24 points against Pacific matched her output against UC San Diego on Nov. 12 and were just two shy of her career high of 26 against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 21
• Following a slow start to the year, Gray has shot better than 44 percent from the field in six of her last seven contests
20-20-20 VISION
• Gray's three 20-point performances this year are tied for fourth among Big Sky Conference scorers in 2025-26
• She is one of 12 players in the league (as of Dec. 7) with multiple 20-point games this year
HERE'S A QUARTER
• Gray's big night against Pacific was sparked by a 12-point opening quarter -- the fifth such performance by a Hornet this season
• Of the five, Gray holds the top three spots on that list, adding a 12-point second quarter at UC San Diego (Nov. 12) and a season-best 14-point first quarter against Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 21)
• Natalie Picton (10 points in the fourth at UCSD) and Pinja Paananen (10 in the fourth vs. Stanton) also have double-digit quarters this year
HISTORIC HELPING HANDS
• With her 54 assists over her first 10 games this season, Versteeg now has 500 for her career, placing her second on the school's all-time list, trailing only record-holder Fantasia Hilliard (726 from 2011-15), on that chart
• That total also puts her among the top 15 in Big Sky history, passing Southern Utah's Rebecca Cardenas (494 from 2016-20) and Eastern Washington's Jennifer Sutter (492 from 1993-97)
• Montana State's Hannah Caudill (2014-18) is ahead in 13th with 508, with Montana's Margaret Williams (1982-87) with 511 in 12th
DELICIOUS DISH
• Versteeg has posted five-or-more assists in eight of the team's 10 games
• Her total of 54 assists and her 5.40 assists per game puts her atop the Big Sky in both categories entering this week, while ranking No. 30 and No. 35 in the nation, respectively, as of Dec. 7
• Her 54 assists are seven ahead of last year's 10-game pace when she finished the campaign tying her own single-season record of 208
• With her seven assists against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 21 -- which tied her season high -- Versteeg posted her 32nd career game with seven-or-more assists with all of those coming in the last two-plus seasons (a total of 74 games)
LIZ GOES TO GREAT LENGTHS
• Junior Elizabeth Abiara collected the second double-digit rebounding performance by a Hornet this season at Pacific, grabbing 10 boards -- five of those on the offensive end -- to lead her team
• The total marked a Sacramento State career-high for the Mansfield, Texas, native, trailing only the 12 by Benthe Versteeg as part of her double-double against UC Davis on Nov. 24
• Abiara's five offensive rebounds were also a Hornet career high as both that total and her overall total were the most since she had 11 rebounds (eight offensive) against Lipscomb on March 11 while at Central Arkansas
A "KEY" INGREDIENT
• Junior forward Keanna Salave'a has been the Hornets' best on the boards to start the season, finishing with six-or-more rebounds in a game five times in her first 10 games at the Division I level -- including matching her Hornet career high with eight (to go with 11 points) against Chattanooga at the CBU Classic in Riverside, Calif.
• Salave'a, who is also averaging 6.3 ppg, ranks among the top 10 in the Big Sky in total rebounds (t7th) and offensive rebounds (t3rd), with her work on the offensive end (25 rebounds) accounting for nearly half her season total on the glass (57)
SEND IT BACK!
• With her block against Pacific, Salave'a notched her team-high 10th swat of the season, making her one of only five players in the Big Sky to tally double digits in that category as of Dec. 7
• Salave'a has notched at least one block in each of her last five games, including a pair against Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 21) and Chattanooga (Nov. 28), accounting for seven of her 10 blocks
• As a team, Sacramento State has collected 44 blocked shots and are averaging 4.4 blocks per game this season, standing second behind Idaho (50, 5.00 bpg) in the Big Sky as of Dec. 7
HOLD THE LINE
• Picton has been nearly automatic from the line this season, shooting 93 percent (13-for-14) from the stripe
• The Welland, Ontario, native has drained her last 11 free throws without a miss, hitting her last three in a win over UC San Diego on Nov. 12, then eight straight against Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton, and UC Davis
• Close behind Picton is Rubi Gray, who is 15-for-18 (.833) from the line on the year and has made her last 10 attempts from the stripe dating back to the Hornets' match-up with Chattanooga on Nov. 28
SHOOTING BLANKS
• Dating back to last season, Sacramento State's defense has held 10 of its last 13 opponents -- and 14 of its last 18 -- to under 40 percent from the field, including 28 percent by Northern Arizona at the 2025 Big Sky Tournament
• Eight of those 18 opponents have made 20 (or fewer) field goals in a game, including only 12 by Weber State on Feb. 20 last season
• Sacramento State has been even stingier from beyond the arc, holding 17 of its last 18 opponents dating back to last year to under 40 percent from distance -- 14 of those shooting less than 30 percent.
• Meanwhile, the Hornets' offense has shot 40 percent or better 10 times in that same span
MISS STEAL YOUR BALL
• For the first time this season, Picton was held to without a steal in a game at Pacific after logging multiple steals in her first nine games as a Hornet
• Picton's 24 swipes put her tied for fourth in the Big Sky standings in that category as of Dec. 9 and fifth at 2.4 spg
• 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
• Individually, Fatoumata Jaiteh's seven steals against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 21 currently stand as the most by a Big Sky player in a game
TIME IS ON THEIR SIDE
• Three Hornets rank among the top five in the Big Sky in minutes played as of Dec. 9: Picton stands second (354), Versteeg is third (338), and Gray is fifth (309)
• Picton is second in the league at 35.36 minutes per game, trailing only Northern Arizona's Naomi White (36.81 mpg), while Versteeg (33.8 mpg) is third and Gray (30.9 mpg) close behind
• Thanks to those minutes, Versteeg has moved into fifth on the all-time minutes played list with 3,248 and, if she's able to replicate her total from each of the last two seasons, would break Kylie Kuhns' school career record of 3,804 minutes from 2009-13
• Meanwhile, for Picton, her time on the court is a big step up from last season when she played a total of 497 minutes in 31 games at Montana State, and is well above her average of 29.1 mpg in 29 games during her freshman season with the Bobcats in 2023-24
ATTACKING THE PAINT
• Sacramento State is a combined 5-1 this year when outscoring its opponents in the paint
• The Hornets have scored 30-or-more points in the key in all five of those wins, including 86 points in the season opener in a lop-sided win over Stanton and 44 more in a 20-point victory against Cal State Fullerton
DE-FENSE (CLAP, CLAP)...
• Sacramento State hasn't given up much this season, ranking third in the Big Sky Conference in scoring defense (61.3 ppg), rebounding defense (36.0 rpg), and field goal percentage defense (.378) while leading the league in three-point percentage defense (.263)
• It's a continuation of a trend that has seen the Hornets post two of the stingiest scoring defenses in school history in the last three years as they allowed 59.9 ppg in 2022-23 (second in school history) and gave up 63.6 ppg in 2024-25 (fourth in school history)
• The school record is 56.8 ppg allowed over 23 games in 1984-85
BENCH BOOST
• Sacramento State's second unit has come on to outscore its counterparts in six of the team's 10 games this season
• Hornet reserves have combined for 20-or-more points five times in 10 games this year
• Sacramento State ranks fifth in the Big Sky in bench points per game at 21.9 ppg
NOT HALF BAD
• Sacramento State is 4-1 this season when leading at the half and a combined 17-5 when winning the first 20 minutes under Head Coach Aaron Kallhoff over the last two-plus seasons
• Last season (2024-25), the Hornets were a near-perfect 10-1 when leading at the break
HITS OF THE 70s
• During the Aaron Kallhoff era, 70 points seems to be the magic number for the Hornets
• Over the last two-plus seasons, Sacramento State is 15-3 when scoring 70-or-more points, while winning just 10 times when held under that mark since 2023-24
FINDING THE RIGHT COMBINATION
• After senior Fatoumata Jaiteh went down with an injury against UC Davis on Nov. 24, the Hornets have been in search of her replacement in the starting five
• Featuring the same starting lineup in each of the team's first seven games, Sacramento State has trotted out a different starting five in each of its last three contests
• Both Tali Fa'i (vs. Chattanooga) and Keanna Salave'a (at Pacific) earned their first career starts as Hornets, while Brooklyn Taylor picked up her first start of the year -- and the second of her career -- at California Baptist
