BOISE, Idaho -- The Sacramento State women's basketball team is into the second round of the Big Sky Conference Tournament for the third consecutive year as the eighth-seeded Hornets meet second-seeded Northern Arizona on Sunday afternoon (March 9) at 1:30 p.m. PT at the Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho.
GAME #33
BIG SKY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT SECOND ROUND
WHAT: No. 8 Sacramento State (15-17 overall) vs. No. 2 Northern Arizona (25-6 overall)
WHEN: Sunday, March 9, 2025
TIME: 1:30 p.m. PT
WHERE: Boise, Idaho
VENUE: Idaho Central Arena
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: Big Sky Conference
BUY TICKETS: All-Session | Single-Session
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL: Big Sky Conference
GAME NOTES: Northern Arizona | Big Sky Conference
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 8 (First Round)
G1: #9 Northern Colorado 53, #10 Portland State 50
G2: #8 Sacramento State 71, #7 Eastern Washington 67
Sunday, March 9 (Second Round)
G3: #1 Montana State vs. Northern Colorado, 11 AM (TV: ESPN+)
G4: #2 Northern Arizona vs. Sacramento State, 1:30 PM (TV: ESPN+)
Monday, March 10 (Quarterfinals)
G5: #4 Weber State vs. #5 Idaho State, 11 AM (TV: ESPN+)
G6: #3 Idaho vs. #6 Montana, 1:30 PM (TV: ESPN+)
Tuesday, March 11 (Semifinals)
G7: Game 3 Winner vs. Game 5 Winner, 11 AM (TV: ESPN+)
G8: Game 4 Winner vs. Game 6 Winner, 1:30 PM (TV: ESPN+)
Wednesday, March 12 (Finals)
G9: Championship Game, 2 PM (TV: ESPNU)
SCOUTING NORTHERN ARIZONA
• The Lumberjacks enter the Big Sky Conference Tournament as the No. 2 seed, posting a 25-6 overall record and a 14-2 mark in league play during the regular season, earning a first-round bye
• Northern Arizona's only two losses in conference play came against top-seeded Montana State
• The Lumberjacks have won their last seven games heading into their tournament opener on Sunday, with the last three — and six of the seven — coming by 10-or-more points
• NAU was 12-1 at home, 11-5 on the road, and 2-0 on a neutral court this year
• A balanced offense sees six Lumberjacks averaging better than seven points per game led by Sophie Glancey, who is averaging a league-high 18.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per game while shooting .507 from the field this year
• Taylor Feldman (16.7 ppg) and Nyah Moran (11.5 ppg) are also in doubles figures, with the former hitting .416 from the field and ranking second on the team (behind only Leia Beattie, who has 69) with 55 makes from beyond the arc
• Northern Arizona sports the league's best offense (80.3 ppg), but has allowed the most points per game (71.8 ppg) in the conference
• NAU also leads the Big Sky in field goal percentage (.422), rebounding (42.7 rpg), offensive rebounds (13.0 rpg), and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.22)
SERIES NOTABLES
• Northern Arizona leads the all-time series with Sacramento State, 44-19
• The Lumberjacks have won the last three meetings in the series with the Hornets, sweeping the regular season series this year with a 75-70 win in Sacramento on Jan. 16 and posting a 75-60 win in Flagstaff a month later on Feb. 15
• Sunday marks the third straight year that Sacramento State and Northern Arizona will meet in the Big Sky Tournament
• The Hornets posted a 76-63 win in 2023 to clinch the program's first-ever conference tournament title before the Lumberjacks avenged that loss with an 81-63 win in the second round in 2024
• Overall, Sacramento State is 1-3 against NAU all-time in Big Sky Tournament play with the Lumberjacks posting a 67-58 quarterfinal win in 2005 and a 74-69 first-round win in 2019
TIME TO UPDATE THE RECORD BOOK
• Sacramento State's .474 field goal percentage against Eastern Washington in the first round is the second-highest in a Big Sky Tournament game in the program's history behind only the 52 percent against Idaho State in last year's first round
• Senior Jaydia Martin's 26-point effort against the Eagles is tied for the third-highest single-game point total in a Big Sky Tournament game in program history, just five points shy of Maranne Johnson's 31 against Southern Utah in 2016
• Martin's 10 field goals made is also tied for the third-most in a Big Sky Tournament game in program history, one shy of Johnson's 11 against Southern Utah (2016) and Montana (2018)
• Versteeg's 11 assists are the second-most in a Big Sky Tournament game by a Hornet, trailing only her 12 helpers against Idaho State in last year's first round
• Katie Peneueta's four blocks against EWU are tied for second on the program's Big Sky record list, two off Kennedy Nicholas' six against Northern Arizona in 2019
HORNET TIP-INS
• With the win on Saturday, the Hornets improved to 4-5 in opening-round tournament games, winning their last three straight
• Sacramento State is 4-8 in the second/quarterfinal round all-time having lost three of its last four
• After Jaydia Martin faced her former team (Eastern Washington) in the Hornets' opening-round victory, Sacramento State junior Fatoumata Jaiteh will go against her former team (Northern Arizona) in Sunday's second round
• Jaiteh appeared in 64 career games for the Lumberjacks from 2021-23 before sitting out the 2023-24 season due to injury
• Sacramento State shot .474 from the field in the first-round win over Eastern Washington — its fourth straight game shooting 40 percent or better overall from the floor dating back to its game at Montana on Feb. 27
• The Hornets are shooting .453 (102-for-225) in that stretch
• At the other end, Sacramento State has limited its opponents to under 40 percent shooting from the field in six of its last seven games, holding the opposition to 35 percent (144-for-411) overall in that stretch
• Junior guard Benthe Versteeg remains on a heater, posting her fifth consecutive double-double — one of those a triple-double at Montana on Feb. 27 — after scoring 11 points and dishing out 11 assists in the first-round win over Eastern Washington
• Of those double-doubles, the last three have been of the point-assist variety, while the other was a 15-point, 11-rebound effort (to go along with nine assists) against Idaho State on Feb. 22
• With her 11 assists against Eastern Washington on Saturday, Versteeg now has 203 assists for the year, just five shy of her school single-season record of 208 set last season
• She is the first Hornet to post back-to-back 200-assist seasons in the history of the program
• Saturday marked Versteeg's sixth game with at least 10 assists this year — a total that leads the Big Sky and accounts for half of the twelve 10-assist performances by a Big Sky player this season
• Her 441 career assists are just 12 shy of Heather Baker (453 from 1989-93) for second on the school's all-time list
• During her run, Versteeg is averaging 14.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and 10.6 apg, while shooting .468 (29-for-62) from the field and .833 (15-for-18) from the line over the last five games
• The five straight double-doubles marks the longest streak by a Hornet since Isnelle Natabou went 10 straight with a double-double from Jan. 15-Feb. 12, 2022
• With her 26-point, 10-rebound double-double against Eastern Washington, senior Jaydia Martin posted her first double-double as a Hornet and the third of her collegiate career
• Martin has now scored in double figures in nine-straight games, averaging 16.4 ppg and 6.7 rpg while shooting .438 (49-for-112) from the floor and .438 (21-for-48) from three-point range
• The 26 points against EWU was Martin's second-highest total of the year behind her 31-point outburst against Kansas City on Dec. 4, and marked her sixth game with at least 20 points this year — which ranks fifth in the league
• Senior Katie Peneueta added four blocks to her nine points in the first-round win over Eastern Washington — her fourth coming up huge when she blocked Peyton Howard's attempt and the Hornets hanging on to a two-point lead
• The four blocks give her 45 on the season, moving her into ninth place on the school's single-season list, passing Kennedy Nicholas (44 in 2019-20) and Megan Kirtscher (43 in 2011-12)
• She is six blocks shy of Kristine Knowlton's 2002-03 total of 51 for eighth place on that list
• Peneueta now has 108 blocks for her career, ranking her sixth on the career list
• The four-block performance was her 11th with multiple blocks this year and her 31st career game as a Hornet with two-or-more swats in the game
• She has five career games with four-or-more blocks — four of those coming this year and three of those four coming in her last six games
• Having now met the league minimum for games played, Peneueta leads the Big Sky with 1.88 blocks per game and is second with her 45 blocks overall behind NAU's Glancey (55)
