SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State women's basketball team announced its 31-game slate for the upcoming 2025-26 season, a schedule that includes 14 contests on the Hornets' new on-campus home court at The WELL.
In a season marked by change, this year marks the 30th — and final — season as a member of the Big Sky Conference for Sacramento State, which announced plans to move to the Big West Conference beginning with the 2026-27 academic year.
The Hornets will face four of their future league rivals during non-conference play with games against UC San Diego (Nov. 12), Long Beach State (Nov. 15), and Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 15), along with a trip to Riverside, Calif., to compete in a tournament during Thanksgiving weekend hosted by fellow conference newcomer California Baptist that also features Big West foe UC Santa Barbara.
After spending most of its history playing at The Nest, Sacramento State transitions its home contests to 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 and the project should be completed in September.
Three of this year's opponents reached the NCAA Tournament as California was a No. 8 seed and Big Sky Conference champion Montana State was a No. 13 seed — both losing in the first round. Big West Tournament champion UC San Diego, which the Hornets' defeated in the second game of the 2024-25 regular season at home, was part of the tournament's "First Four," falling to Southern University.
In addition, three other opponents on this year's schedule also advanced to the postseason as 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), which Sacramento State will face on Nov. 28 and Dec. 4, respectively, also earned berths in the Postseason Women's NIT.
The Hornets officially cut the ribbon at The WELL against Stanton University on Nov. 3 and welcomes Nevada to Northern California on Nov. 6, before a three-game run on the road that features games at California (Nov. 9), UC San Diego (Nov. 12), and Long Beach State (Nov. 15).
Cal State Fullerton pays a visit on Nov. 21 followed by the annual Causeway rivalry match-up against UC Davis in Sacramento on Nov. 24. Sacramento State then spends the Thanksgiving holiday in Riverside for CBU's Thanksgiving tournament to close out November.
December begins with a short trip to Stockton for a tussle with the Tigers followed by a post final exam clash with Simpson University on Dec. 15. A pair of games in the Bay Area prior to the Christmas holiday follow as the Hornets take on San Francisco at the Chase Center — home of the NBA's Golden State Warriors and the WNBA's Golden State Valkyries — on Dec. 17 and San Jose State four days later on Dec. 21.
The first three Big Sky games for Sacramento State will be at home as the Hornets ring in 2026 with a New Year's Day game against Idaho State, followed by games against Weber State (Jan. 3) and travel partner Portland State (Jan. 10). It will be the fourth New Year's Day game for the Hornets in program history and the first since opening conference play at Northern Arizona in 2015.
Remaining conference home games for Sacramento State include Idaho (Jan. 22), Eastern Washington (Jan. 24), Northern Colorado (Feb. 12), Northern Arizona (Feb. 14), Montana (Feb. 26), and reigning regular season and tournament champion Montana State (Feb. 28).
This year's Big Sky Championships return to Idaho Central Arena in Boise, Idaho, on March 7-11, with the NCAA Tournament tipping off with the "First Four" games on March 18-19. Sacramento State will serve as hosts for one of two NCAA women's basketball regionals on March 27-30 at the Golden 1 Center with two teams ending the weekend with berths to the "Final Four" in Phoenix, Ariz.
PRESEASON NEWS AND NOTABLES…
• The Hornets return a pair of starters and six letter winners overall off of last season's squad that finished 15-18 overall and 7-11 in Big Sky play, reaching at least second round of the league tournament for the third consecutive season.
• 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 behind only the 11-win improvement from 2020-21 (3-22) to 2021-22 (14-16) and, again, from 2021-22 (14-16) to 2022-23 (25-8), while matching the nine-game improvement from 2010-11 (4-25) to 2011-12 (13-18).
• The Hornets' 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, while the nine wins at home last season were tied for the fifth-most in school history.
• Senior guard Benthe Versteeg leads the way after picking up All-Big Sky first-team honors, league all-defensive team laurels, and a conference all-tournament team award for the second straight season. Averaging 12.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 6.5 assists per game a season ago, Versteeg became only the 12th Hornet to each all-conference first-team honors and the 10th to be named to the all-league team multiple times in a career.
• 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.
• In addition to the six returners, the Hornets welcome back redshirt guard Jeniece Harmon and add eight new faces to round out the 15-woman roster, including six transfers across all levels of basketball — three from other Division I schools (Natalie Picton / Montana State, Elizabeth Abiara / Central Arkansas, and Pinja Paananen / Arkansas), another from a prominent NAIA program (Keanna Salave'a / University of Providence), and two more from the junior college ranks (Ajong Lual / Garden City CC, Tali Fa'i / Laney College) — and a pair of standout freshmen (Jamiah Fontenberry and Elisa Leghissa).
• Sacramento State's roster remains a melting pot of exceptional international talent, featuring student-athletes representing six different nations from around the world: The Netherlands (Versteeg), Canada (Picton), Finland (Paananen), Australia (Rubi Gray), Italy (Leghissa), and Hungary (Noemi Arvai).
• This year's roster also features five Californians, two from the state of Washington, one Texan, and one more who hails from the state of Arizona.
• 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
• Sacramento State is under the direction of Head Coach Aaron Kallhoff, who enters his third season at the helm in 2025-26, while Associate Head Coach De'Audra Brown, Assistant Coach Jodi Page, and Chief of Staff Elexus Trenkle also return to the Hornet sideline.
• Associate Head Coach Michael Floyd, who spent the last nine seasons at Santa Clara — including a year as the Broncos' interim head coach in 2024-25 -- joins Kallhoff's staff for 2025-26.
