SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Back in the win column following a thrilling victory over Idaho to close out last week, the Sacramento State women's basketball team returns to the road for two this week after playing its last four at home.
The Hornets open against Northern Colorado on Thursday (Feb. 13) at 11 a.m. in Greeley, Colo., in the Bears' "Kid's Day" contest, before heading to Flagstaff, Ariz., for a 1 p.m. tip-off against second-place Northern Arizona on Saturday (Feb. 15).
THIS WEEK...
GAME #25
WHAT: Sacramento State (11-13, 4-7 Big Sky) at Northern Colorado (10-13, 3-9 Big Sky)
WHEN: Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025
TIME: 11 AM PT
WHERE: Greeley, Colo.
ARENA: Bank of Colorado Arena
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: UNCBears.com
GAME #26
WHAT: Sacramento State (11-13, 4-7 Big Sky) at Northern Arizona (19-6, 10-2 Big Sky)
WHEN: Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025
TIME: 1 PM PT
WHERE: Flagstaff, Ariz.
ARENA: Findlay Toyota Court
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: NAUAthletics.com
GAME NOTES
Sacramento State | Northern Colorado | Northern Arizona
ABOUT THE BEARS
• Northern Colorado enters the week with a 10-13 overall record and a 3-9 mark in Big Sky Conference play, entering the week ninth in the standings
• The Bears have lost their last two contests after dropping both games during their trip to Montana
• Northern Colorado is an impressive 8-3 at home this season compared to just 2-10 on the road and has won three of its last four at Bank of Colorado Arena
• No Bear is in double figures in scoring entering the week as junior forward Aniah Hall leads the way at 9.4 ppg to go with 6.5 rpg and shooting .478 from the field
• Sophomore Tatum West is second on the team in scoring (9.3 ppg) and leads the team in rebounding (6.9 rpg) while shooting a team-high .522 from the floor
SERIES NOTABLES
• Northern Colorado leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 23-14
• The Hornets snapped a two-game losing skid in the series with their, 51-48, win over the Bears on Jan. 18
• With that win, Sacramento State has now won five of the last seven meetings in the series after UNC had won 10 straight from 2016-21
• Northern Colorado has won 13 of the 17 all-time meetings between the two in Greeley, with the Hornets' last win in Colorado coming in 2023
• Sacramento State has won two of the last three meetings at Northern Colorado
• The Hornets had won six of the first eight all-time meetings between the two schools from 2007-10, but the Bears followed that with wins in 19 of the next 22 in the 10 years that followed from 2011-21
ABOUT THE LUMBERJACKS
• Northern Arizona enters the week with a 19-6 overall record and a 10-2 mark in Big Sky play, standing in second place entering the week
• The Lumberjacks host Portland State on Thursday (Feb. 13) before welcoming the Hornets
• NAU split their trip to Montana last week, falling at first-place Montana State before putting up 96 points on a record 17 three-pointers in a win at Montana
• The Lumberjacks have won seven of their last eight overall -- four of those wins coming at home where they are 9-1 this year
• Junior forward Sophie Glancey is averaging nearly a double-double on the season, putting up 17.8 ppg and grabbing 9.1 rpg while shooting .506 from the field
• Junior Taylor Feldman (17.3 ppg) and senior Nyah Moran (11.4 ppg) are also in double figures
SERIES NOTABLES
• Northern Arizona leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 43-19
• The Lumberjacks have won the last two straight meetings following a 75-70 win earlier this year at The Nest
• The Hornets are just 8-21 on the road against NAU, but has won two of their last three trips to Flagstaff following an 82-66 win there last season
• The five-point decision earlier this year was the closest between the two since an 82-80 overtime win by the Lumberjacks back on Feb. 9, 2023, in Sacramento
• All but three of the all-time meetings between the two schools have been as Big Sky rivals, with four meetings in the conference tournament
MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH US
• Sacramento State has been strong in the fourth quarter as of late, "winning" the final stanza in six of its last nine contests and playing even in another
• The Hornets are plus-20 (171-151) in those nine fourth quarters, including a plus-12 in the win over Idaho State
• As a team, Sacramento State is shooting .438 (56-for-128) from the field and .846 (44-for-52) from the line in that stretch, averaging 19.0 points per fourth quarter
• Defensively, the Hornets are holding opponents to just .387 (41-for-106) shooting in the last nine fourth quarters
• Sacramento State has also forced opponents into 45 turnovers (5.6 per quarter) in that stretch compared to 30 for the Hornets
BENTHE VERSTEEG AND THE FORTY MINUTES
• When it comes to minutes, there is nothing "minute" (my-NOOT) about it for junior Benthe Versteeg
• In what is becoming a regular thing, the Hornets' point guard went the distance by playing all 40 minutes against Montana on Feb. 1, playing a complete game for the fifth time overall this season
• She followed that up with a 39-minute performance against Eastern Washington before foul trouble in the win over Idaho limited her to just 30 minutes
• All told, Versteeg has played a full 40 minutes on 17 different occasions in 85 career games as a Hornet, while playing at least 39 minutes in 15 other contests
MINUTE WOMEN
• Speaking of minutes, the Hornets have three players ranked among the top six in the league in the category entering the week
• Versteeg is second in the Big Sky at 34.16 mpg -- trailing only Portland State's Layla Torres-Kahapea (34.96) -- followed by Jaydia Martin (33.01) in fifth and Lina Falk in sixth (32.70 mpg)
• Sacramento State is the only school with three players among the top 10, with Portland State and Idaho logging two apiece
• Since the start of Big Sky play, no other player in the league has played more than Versteeg (37.61) and Falk (37.27), who rank 1-2 in the conference
BACK ON TRACK
• After being held to fewer than 10 points against Weber State and Montana State, senior Jaydia Martin is back to her old scoring ways
• Martin, who had scored in double figures in 13 consecutive games from Nov. 29 to Jan. 23, has a new three-game streak following last week's contests, averaging 15.3 ppg and shooting .444 (16-for-36) from the field
• Her 18 points in the win over Idaho on Feb. 8, marked her highest total since she scored 20 against Northern Arizona on Jan. 16
• Martin, who enters the week ranked No. 4 in the Big Sky in scoring, has reached double figures in 16 of her last 18 games and a team-high 18 of her 24 games
• During her run of 13 straight double-digit games, Martin averaged 17.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg, and 3.23 apg, while shooting .471 (89-for-189)
• During that time, Martin topped the 20-point plateau four times -- including a 31-point effort against Kansas City on Dec. 4 that remains tied for the most points by a Big Sky player this season entering the week
BOARDING BIG IN THE BIG SKY
• Limited to only five non-conference contests due to illness and injury to start the year, senior Katie Peneueta has been a beast on the boards for the Hornets since the start of Big Sky play
• Of her 88 rebounds this year, 73 have come in conference play, averaging 6.6 rpg to stand 13th in the league
• During that stretch, Peneueta has a pair of double-digit rebounding performances against Idaho (Jan. 9) with 11 and Northern Arizona (Jan. 16) with a career-high 13
• She has led the team in rebounding a team-high six times in those 11 games, followed by four from Jaydia Martin and three from Lina Falk and Fatoumata Jaiteh
DELICIOUS DISH
• Junior guard Benthe Versteeg continues to find her teammates for baskets with pinpoint accuracy
• The Big Sky leader in both total assists and assists per game a season ago, Versteeg has 83 assists in her last 13 games (6.38 apg)
• The junior now has 130 assists on the season -- a total that leads the Big Sky in both overall and assists per game (5.65 apg) -- and now has 368 for her career, passing Justyce Dawson (312 from 2014-18) for fifth on the all-time list
• With five more helpers, Versteeg will tie Julie Wastell (373 from 1995-99) for fourth
• Versteeg is the first Hornet to post 100 assists in back-to-back seasons since Fantasia Hilliard led the team in all four of her seasons in the green and gold (2011-15)
• Versteeg's career total ranks as the second-most among active players in the Big Sky, trailing only Montana State's Esmeralda Morales (373)
PASSES OR POINTS?
• When Versteeg isn't finding her teammates for baskets, the junior is dabbling in some scoring of her own over the last 11 games
• Versteeg is averaging 13.1 ppg in that stretch -- two points better than her season average overall -- including a trio of 20-point outings at Eastern Washington (21), at Idaho State (23), and against Idaho (22)
• Since the start of Big Sky play, Versteeg has reached double figures in eight of the team's 11 games, averaging 13.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, and 6.0 apg while raising her overall season average from 9.3 ppg to 11.1 ppg entering this week
• Overall, the junior has finished with double-digit points 15 times and has led the team in scoring six times
FATOU ON THE OFFENSIVE
• Junior Fatoumata Jaiteh has been a burden for opponents on the offensive glass
• Jaiteh, who ranks third on the team in both rebounds (101) and rebounds per game (4.8 rpg) overall, has collected 24 of her last 49 rebounds at the offensive end over the last eight games
• That total includes a season-high six offensive rebounds (of her 13) against Northern Arizona on Jan. 16 and five against Northern Colorado (Jan. 18) and Montana (Feb. 1)
• Jaiteh's 39 offensive rebounds this year are the most on the team, leading teammate Benthe Versteeg by 10 entering the week
NO GRAY AREA
• Freshman Rubi Gray came up clutch off the bench in the Hornets' win over Idaho
• The newcomer finished a perfect 3-of-3 from the floor -- including a three-pointer -- en route to a seven-point night, coming up just one point shy of her career high set against Abilene Christian on Nov. 29
• She also added four rebounds in 14 minutes, matching her career high set a week earlier against Montana State on Jan. 30
SWIPER, NO SWIPING!
• Sacramento State ranks third in the Big Sky in both steals (218) and steals per game (9.08 spg) entering this week's contests
• One of only three schools entering the week with 200-or-more steals, the Hornets' 218 steals this season surpassed last year's total of 207 over 31 contests -- which were the most by a Hornet squad since the 2019-20 team finished with 282
• Sacramento State has four players ranked in the top 15 in the league in steals: Fatoumata Jaiteh (7th, 1.57 spg), Lina Falk (8th, 1.55 spg), Benthe Versteeg (t12th, 1.48 spg), and Jaydia Martin (14th, 1.42 spg)
• Falk leads the team with 11 multi-steal games -- including four with a career-high three swipes -- followed by Martin and Versteeg with 10 each and Jaiteh with eight
• The Hornets have 10 games with at least 10 steals, doubling up last year's total of five
SHE'S JUST KATIE FROM THE BLOCK
• Senior Katie Peneueta is proving to be a problem inside for opposing shooters, collecting three blocks last week to give her a team-high 25 on the year
• Her 1.56 bpg would rank second in the Big Sky behind only Northern Arizona's Sophie Glancey (1.72 bpg) for the league lead if Peneueta met the league minimum for games played
• Of Peneueta's 25 blocks, 24 of those have come over the last 12 games (2.00 bpg)
• She has a block in each of her last six contests (1.50 bpg) and in all but four of her 16 appearances overall this year
• Peneueta now has 88 blocks for her career, solidifying her hold on sixth place on the school's all-time list and ranking second among active Big Sky players (Glancey, 95)
• With 12 more swats this season Peneueta would become only the sixth Hornet to reach the century mark in school history and the first since Kennedy Nicholas finished with 173 from 2016-20
• Peneueta finished with six blocks in the team's second meeting with Abilene Christian this season (Dec. 20) -- still tied for the most by a Big Sky player this year
• The total, however, was not a career high as the Vancouver, Wash., native had seven swats -- and nearly a triple-double -- in a win over Idaho on Jan. 5, 2023, adding 11 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes against the Vandals
• Peneueta's six blocks against Abilene Christian rank tied for eighth on the school's single-game list, three off the record of 10 set by Heidi Carroll against San Francisco State on Feb. 21, 1983
THE "PEN"-EUETA IS MIGHTIER
• In 67 career games with the Hornets, Peneueta has made a living from long distance, sinking 153 of 180 career field goals (85 percent) from beyond the three-point line
• Thanks to those 153 makes from beyond the arc, Peneueta now ranks among the school's top 10 in the category, passing Emily Christensen (152 from 2007-12) for ninth with her make on Saturday against Idaho
• She needs 15 more to tie Sami Fields-Polisso (2007-11) and Erika Edwards (2006-10) for seventh
• Her career .445 (153-for-344) three-point percentage would also be a record -- by a wide margin -- if the season ended today
• Peneueta holds the top two single-season three-point marks in school history (minimum 25 three-pointers made), shooting a school-record .463 (56-for-121) as a freshman in 2021-22 and a second-best mark of .455 (71-for-156) in her sophomore season a year later during the Hornets' Big Sky championship season
START ME UP
• The Sacramento State starting five has accounted for more than 86 percent of the team's scoring (576 of 666 points) over the Hornets' last 11 games
• The 74 points by the starters at Eastern Washington were a season high and the most since the Sacramento State starting five finished with 75 points at Northern Arizona on Feb. 15 of last year (an 82-66 win)
• All but four of the team's 53 points vs EWU were scored by the starting lineup, trailing only the two bench points vs. Idaho (Jan. 9) and Portland State (Jan. 4), as well as the three vs. Northern Colorado (Jan. 18), for the fewest this year
SEARCHING FOR THE RIGHT COMBINATION
• It seems like some stability has returned to the Hornets' starting lineup as of late as the quintet of Versteeg, Falk, Martin, Peneueta, and Jaiteh have combined to start eight of the team's last 11 games
• Sacramento State's starting five opened the year with the same stability, putting the same five players on the floor to tip-off the first five games of the season
• However, between that and the team's most recent run, illness and injury joined forces to throw a wrench into the lineup as Sacramento State used seven different starting five's over its next eight games
• In all, the Hornets have used 11 different starting lineups this season
