SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For the first time in her collegiate career, Sacramento State junior guard Natalie Picton was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Week following her performances against Idaho and Eastern Washington last week.

Picton becomes the first Hornet to earn the league's top weekly honor since teammate Benthe Versteeg shared the conference's final regular season award last year.

In helping her team to a split against the second-place Vandals and the Eagles, Picton averaged 18.0 ppg and shot 41 percent from the field for Sacramento State, including draining six of her 13 makes from beyond the arc while also averaging 3.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.5 steals per game.

The Welland, Ontario, native opened last week with an 18-point night against Idaho, hitting four of her seven shots from distance in 39 minutes, grabbing four boards, dishing out three assists and swiping a pair of steals. Ten of her 18 points came in the first half as she helped the Hornets hold Idaho to nearly 20 points under their season average and just 28 percent shooting for the night.

Two days later, Picton poured in 18 more points in a win over Eastern Washington, shooting 55 percent (6-for-11) from the field — including a clutch three-pointer with 2:41 remaining that turned a one-point lead into a four-point advantage for Sacramento State. She then hit 4-of-4 from the line in the final 16 seconds to help ice the win and hold off a further Eagle comeback.

With her pair of 18-point performances, Picton enters this week's contests having reached double figures in five of her last six contests (15.0 ppg) and 14 of 20 games overall. Her two steals against Idaho, and three more against EWU, gave her multiple steals in a game for the 16th and 17th times in 20 contests overall.

Picton enters the week ranked second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) overall and is averaging 13.7 ppg in seven Big Sky games thus far. She ranks among the top 10 in the league in three-pointers made (40) and three's per game (2.0), while standing fourth in steals (53) and steals per game (2.65 spg) as well as second in the league in minutes per contest (34.9 mpg).

Sacramento State opens a run of four-straight games on the road this Thursday, traveling to first-place Montana State for a 6 p.m. PT tip-off in Bozeman, Mont. The Hornets then make the trip to Missoula to take on Montana on Saturday (Jan. 31) and close out a three-game "weekend" with a game at Weber State on Monday (Feb. 2) to begin the second round of league play.