SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento State women's basketball team tips-off a new era in the program's history, officially opening the 2026-27 season as full-fledged members of The Big West after spending the last 30 years as a member of the Big Sky Conference. The Hornets begin the year on the road, traveling to Arlington, Texas, to take on UT Arlington on Tuesday (Nov. 3) at 4:30 p.m. PT. The contest will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform.

GAME #1
WHAT: Sacramento State (15-18, 8-10 Big Sky in 2025-26) at UT Arlington (12-21, 4-14 WAC in 2025-26)
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026
TIME: 4:30 p.m. PT
WHERE: Arlington, Texas
ARENA: College Park Center
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: UTAMavs.com
GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | UT Arlington | The Big West

THE COACHES
• Sacramento State head coach Aaron Kallhoff enters his fourth season at the helm of the Hornets' program, posting a 36-61 record in his previous three years
• He is 114-137 overall in eight years as a head coach when you include one season at Allen County Community College (Kansas) and four years at Hill College (Texas)
• Head Coach Shereka Wright is in her seventh season at the helm, posting a career record of 94-83 (.531) in her previous six campaigns
• Following a decorated playing career at Purdue and two seasons in the WNBA with the Phoenix Mercury, Wright had collegiate coaching stops at Texas Tech, Alabama, and Vanderbilt before becoming UTA's head coach

ABOUT THE HORNETS
• Sacramento State is coming off a 2025-26 campaign that saw it finish 15-18 overall and 8-10 in its final season in the Big Sky Conference
• The Hornets were fifth in the regular season standings and advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament for only the fifth time in school history
• Sacramento State returns seven letter winners, a pair of starters, and welcomes seven new faces for the 2026-27 season
• Senior guard Natalie Picton was an All-Big Sky Tournament Team selection in her first year as a Hornet, averaging 13.4 ppg and 3.7 rpg while dishing out 2.1 assists and leading the team with 2.2 steals per game
• Senior forward Elizabeth Abiara started 17 of 31 games last year, shooting 51 percent from the field and ranking third on the team in rebounding at 4.1 boards per contest

ABOUT THE MAVERICKS
• UT Arlington finished last season with a 12-21 overall record and a 4-14 mark in WAC play, reaching the semifinals of the conference tournament before falling to Abilene Christian
• The Mavericks return only two players off of last season's squad: Miraya Perkins, who averaged 4.6 ppg in 13.4 mpg before an injury prematurely ended her season, and junior Amiyah Reynolds, who averaged 2.6 ppg in 33 games (10 starts)
• The roster features 13 newcomers, including five Division I transfers and three true freshmen

SERIES NOTABLES
• This is the first-ever meeting between Sacramento State and UT Arlington in women's basketball

CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State has only faced one opponent from the newly formed United Athletic Conference, which emerged after the dissolution of the Western Athletic Conference
• The Hornets twice faced Abilene Christian (who was a member of the WAC at the time) a month apart in neutral site tournaments in 2024, falling to the Wildcats at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic and the Lobo Invitational 
• The rest of the UAC is made up of Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, Little Rock, North Alabama, Tarleton State, and West Georgia

LID-LIFTERS
• According to available records dating back to the 1973-74 season, the Hornets are 18-35 all time in regular season openers and 9-26 in the program's Division I era (since 1991-92)
• Tuesday's game against UT Arlington marks the ninth time in the last 13 years that Sacramento State opens the season on the road, but the first since a loss at Washington to tip-off the 2023-24 campaign
• Only 18 of the team's 53 combined season openers have been at home
• Sacramento State has won its last two regular season openers, defeating Jessup (78-51) in 2024 and Stanton University (124-39) last year
• The Hornets' last win over a Division I school in a regular season opener was in 2018, posting an 88-85 win over Cal Poly at home

TRADING THE "SKY" FOR THE "WEST"
• The Big West is the third conference for the Hornets in their Division I history after playing in the America West along with Cal Poly, CSUN, and Southern Utah from 1994-96, and then joining the Big Sky in 1996-97

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• In their first year as members of The Big West, the Hornets are already making an impression in the league, picked to finish fifth and earning one first-place vote according to a vote of the conference's head coaches released on Oct. 15
• Sacramento State received 88 points overall to finish in the top half of the league, ahead of fellow newcomer Utah Valley (70) and just five points back of another new face in the conference, California Baptist (93)
• UC San Diego finished with 120 points and 10 first-place votes to top the poll followed by UC Irvine (108, 1 first-place vote) and UC Santa Barbara (94) in the top three
• Last season, the Hornets were picked fifth by the coaches in their final season in the Big Sky Conference and finished the year in fifth

PRESEASON PICKS TO CLICK
• Senior guard Natalie Picton and junior forward Jenessa Cotton were two of seven players named to the preseason All-Big West squad in the program's first year in the league
• Sacramento State was one of only two schools with multiple selections to the preseason all-league team, joining preseason league favorite UC San Diego, which had three

EXHIBITIONISTS
• Sacramento State opened its schedule with an exhibition victory over NCAA Division II Stanislaus State on Oct. 28, posting an 86-46 victory at home
• Four Hornets finished in double figures led by senior guard Natalie Picton, who flirted with a triple-double by scoring 23 points, grabbing nine rebounds, and dishing out eight assists
• Newcomers Koko Akridge and Jenessa Cotton were close to double-doubles with the former scoring 12 points and dishing out nine assists to go with four steals and the latter adding 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench
• Newcomer Jelena Savic added 10 points and five rebounds to round out the double-digit quartet
• The Hornets shot .507 for the game, including a 79 percent (11-for-14) clip in the fourth quarter
• Sacramento State's defense held the Warriors to just .295 shooting overall from the field, including a 20 percent clip in the second quarter and just 23 percent in the third
• Sacramento State outrebounded Stanislaus State, 52-29, and turned the Warriors over 20 times

A MAJOR MID-MAJOR HONOR
• Sacramento State's six-woman transfer class for 2026-27 is one of the best in the nation among mid-major schools according to the website On3.com
• The Hornets ranked ninth along with the likes of Grand Canyon, South Florida, Fairfield, Green Bay, High Point, Miami (Ohio), Toledo, Colorado State, Utah State

IRON SHARPENS IRON
• This year's schedule has Sacramento State facing four teams who reached some level of postseason play a season ago, including three of those teams who will be rivals in The Big West this year
• UC San Diego, which tied for the regular season title and won the league's tournament crown, was a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost to TCU in the opening round
• UC Irvine, which matched the Tritons atop the Big West standings at 17-3, was selected for the Women's Basketball Invitation Tournament, falling to San Diego State in the first round
• San Francisco advanced the furthest of the four, gaining the second round of the WNIT following a win over another of this year's opponents in Utah Valley and a loss to Montana State

NOT A MATTER OF IF, BUT "WIN"
• Sacramento State's eight conference wins last season were the most in Head Coach Aaron Kallhoff's tenure and the most since the Hornets finished 13-5 in 2022-23 en route to a share of the Big Sky regular season title
• The 15 wins overall matched the total from 2024-25 and gave Sacramento State back-to-back seasons with at least that many wins for the first time since the 2013-14 (18-12) and 2014-15 (18-16) campaigns

ROAD TRIPPING
• Sacramento State will play games in five different states during non-conference play before settling down and playing all but one Big West game in its home state of California
• The Hornets will pay visits to Texas (UT Arlington), Nevada (University of Nevada), New York (Buffalo and Niagara), Arizona (University of Arizona), and Idaho (Boise State) during the non-conference segment while taking a late season jaunt to Orem, Utah (Utah Valley) in league play
• Sacramento State's season opener at UT Arlington will be the first trip to Texas for the Hornets since they faced Texas Tech in Lubbock in 2008
• They are 6-11 all time against Texas schools, but just 1-7 in games played in Texas
• Sacramento State and long-time rival Nevada have a series that dates back to 1972, but the two are playing in Reno for the first time since the 2023-24 season
• The Hornets are a combined 26-31 against Nevada schools, but just 8-18 on the road in the "Silver State"
• This year marks the first-ever meetings with Buffalo and Niagara and will be Sacramento State's first-ever games in the state of New York
• The Hornets have faced four New York-based schools: Army West Point, Fordham, Hofstra, and Wagner, posting a 4-1 record against those schools but all played either at home or on a neutral court
• The Nov. 29 game at Arizona is the Hornets' first trip to Tucson since 1994
• Sacramento State has played only three non-conference games against Arizona schools when you include games versus Arizona State in 1992 and 2017
• The Dec. 11 trip to Boise State is the first against the Broncos in Idaho's capital since 2010
• Three of the four all-time meetings between Sacramento State and Boise State have been played in Boise (2005, 2007, 2010)

TEXAS, OUR TEXAS!
• It will be a homecoming for Sacramento State junior forward Elizabeth Abiara, who returns to her home state after spending last season with the Hornets and two at Central Arkansas
• Abiara will be playing her first-ever collegiate game in her home state as neither the Sugar Bears, nor the Hornets, have played a game in Texas in her three-year career
• A native of Mansfield, Texas, Abiara was a two-time all-district first team honoree in basketball as a junior and senior at Lake Ridge HS, where she also set the school record in the high jump

A "PIC"-TURE WORTH 1,000 POINTS
• Senior guard Natalie Picton is closing in on a career milestone that is well within reach during the 2026-27 season
• Including her first two collegiate seasons at Montana State, Picton stands just 129 points away from scoring 1,000 points in her career, entering this year with 871 points to her name
• Last season with the Hornets, Picton finished with a career-high 414 points to rank second on the team -- a total that nearly matched her offensive output from her two seasons with the Bobcats (457 points)
• Combined with former teammate Rubi Gray's 467 points, the duo became the first Hornet teammates to score 400-or-more points in a single season since Kahlaijah Dean (685) and Isnelle Natabou (522) in 2022-23
• Following last year's performance, Picton is one of only 31 players to score more than 400 points in a single season in the program's Division I era 

THINGS ARE LOOKING UP
• Junior center Achol Magot stands at 6-foot-7 and is the tallest player in school history according to available records
• Previously, the record had been shared by Alicja Falkowska (2021-22), Isnelle Natabou (2021-23), Paula Haw (2023-25), and her current teammate (and cousin) Ajong Lual, who were all listed at 6-foot-5
• According to a preseason survey of schools nationwide (as of Oct. 22), there are only four Division I players on 2026-27 rosters that are taller than Magot: Texas Tech's Stephanie Okechukwu (7-foot-1), Middle Tennessee's Nicole Dominguez (6-foot-10), Charleston Southern's Celina Vilcinskas (6-foot-9), and TCU's Sarah Portlock (6-foot-8)
• She is one of nine players nationally who are listed at 6-foot-7 entering the year according to the survey

A TALL ORDER
• This year's Sacramento State squad is among the tallest in the program's Division I history, featuring seven players standing six feet or taller
• That number is tied for the second most in school history, trailing only the record eight six-footers on the 2025-26 roster
• The average height for this year's squad is 71.07 inches (roughly five feet, 11 and 1/16 inches... if you're into fractions), while is the third tallest behind last year's roster that averaged 71.13 inches (roughly five feet, 11 and 1/8 inches) and the 2023-24 squad that averaged 71.43 inches (roughly five feet, 11 13/32 inches)

EVERYDAY IS FATHER'S DAY
• There will be a pair of Picton's on the floor this season for the Hornets as senior guard Natalie will be joined by her father, David, who is entering his first year as an assistant coach with the program in 2026-27
• They are one of only two such father-daughter duos in the country in 2026-27, joining Kentucky head coach Kenny Brooks and his daughter, Gabby, who is a senior entering her third year playing for her dad with the Wildcats

TERVEISIÄ SUOMESTA!
• Emme puhu kovin hyvin suomea (loosely Google translated: We don't speak Finnish very well), but we do know that Hornet junior Pinja Paananen is one of a handful of Finnish players in Division I women's basketball entering the 2026-27 campaign
• According to a preseason survey of schools across the nation (as of Oct. 22), Paananen is one of 11 "Suomalaiset" ("Finns") on NCAA rosters and the only one of those 11 to hail from Laukaa -- a city located approximately 176 miles from the nation's capital, Helsinki

SHE CAN DO BOTH
• Guard Jaety Mandaquit enters her second season with the Sacramento State women's basketball team in 2026-27 and will join the squad once her duties with the Hornets' women's soccer program are complete
• A walk-on to the program last year, Mandaquit appeared in 31 games and made 11 starts on the court for Sacramento State, averaging 3.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game while averaging 20.7 mpg
• When she made her debut in the season opener against Stanton on Nov. 3, 2025, Mandaquit became only the third two-sport student-athlete in the women's basketball program's Division I history, the first since 2001-02, and only the second women's soccer player to make the jump
• The other two student-athletes were: Allison Espinosa, a two-time All-American (1989-90) in volleyball who played women's basketball in 1990-91 and 1991-92 (42 career games, 3.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, .477 FG%), and Lori Kerswell, a two-time All-Big Sky selection who played four years with the women's soccer team and joined the women's basketball team for one year in 2001-02 (22 games, nine starts, 4.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg).
• Trading her cleats for sneakers, this year's debut for Mandaquit marked her first organized basketball contest since her junior year of high school
• Hailing from Hilo, Hawai'i, Mandaquit is only the second Hornet to come from the "Aloha State" and the first since Jordan Kealoha (Honolulu) played two seasons for Sacramento State in 2010-12

SHE, TOO, CAN DO BOTH
• The women's basketball team features a pair of two-sport Hornets as, in addition to Mandaquit, senior forward Elizabeth Abiara traded in her basketball sneakers for track spikes at the end of last year, competing in the high jump in three meets
• She cleared at least 5-03.75 in all three competition and set a new collegiate best of 5-05.25 to place second in the high jump at the annual Causeway Dual with UC Davis
• Abiara also competed in the high jump at Central Arkansas as a freshman in 2023-24, setting her then-career best with a 5-05.00 at the Little Rock Invitational, finishing sixth

A RARE BREED
• According to a preseason survey of schools across the country (as of Oct. 22), Mandaquit and Abiara are two of only five two-sport women's basketball student-athletes at the Division I level this year
• The Hornet duo is joined by Lamar's Molly Powell (women's basketball and softball), Chattanooga's Aaliyah Story (track & field [long jump] and women's basketball), and Notre Dame's Isabella Sangha (volleyball and women's basketball)

"PIC"-POCKET
• Picton was in the pockets of opposing offenses all season, posting multiple steals in 21 of her 31 games -- including 10 games with three or more
• Her 67 steals (eighth) and 2.16 steals per game (sixth) ranked among the top 10 in the Big Sky Conference at the end of last year and were the most by a Hornet player since Maranne Johnson ended the 2017-18 campaign with 77 -- a total that ranks seventh on the school's single-season list
• Picton set a Hornet career high with five steals in last year's regular season opener against Stanton and matched that mark with back-to-back five-steal performances against San Jose State (Dec. 21) and Idaho State (Jan. 1)
• She also added a pair of four-steal games and had five games with at least three swipes
• Picton's total last year surpassed her single-season career best of 57 set as a sophomore at Montana State

HORNETS IN THE PROS (all information as of Oct. 23)
• Following a stellar collegiate career at Sacramento State, guard Benthe Versteeg (2022-26) signed with Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv in Israel's Division A, averaging 6.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.8 steals per game
• Emily Enochs (2018-22) plays for BBC Osnabrueck in the German 2.Bundesliga, averaging 4.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game
• Fatoumata Jaiteh (2024-26) has signed a contract with GDRAR in Portugal's Liga Feminina
• Lianna Tillman (2021-22) plays for Freseras in Mexico's LNBPF
• Kahlaijah Dean (2022-23) plays for Beirut FC in Lebanon's WLBL
• Elisa Leghissa (2025-26) signed with Ragusa in Italy's Serie A2
• Kaylin Randhawa (2022-23), who is in her first year as an assistant coach at Big West rival Long Beach State, plays for the Bay City Blaze in the WPBA

THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
• Of Sacramento State's 15-member roster for 2026-27, only three of those hail from outside the United States -- a stark departure from recent years where nearly half the team was international 
• Those three players represent Canada (Natalie Picton), Finland (Pinja Paananen), and Australia (Jelena Savic)
• Savic is the 22nd international player in the program's Division I history -- 20 of those coming in the last nine years
• Australia leads the way with five current/former Hornets, followed by three from Germany and Canada, two from Spain and France, and one each from Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Czechia, Poland, Hungary, and Brazil
• Paananen is the first student-athlete from her respective nation to represent Sacramento State, while Picton is the first Canadian Hornet since Sarah Craig (Calgary, Alberta) in 2003-04

UNITED STATES OF SACRAMENTO
• In addition to the student-athletes from three different countries, this year's edition of the Hornets also hail from seven different states
• Alongside five native Californians (Jeniece Harmon, Jamiah Fontenberry, Tali Fa'i, Koko Akridge, and Jenessa Cotton), Sacramento State also features natives of Texas (Elizabeth Abiara), Colorado (Brooklyn Charlo), Hawai'i (Jaety Mandaquit), Oregon (Jordan Barlow), Arizona (Ajong Lual and Achol Magot), and Pennsylvania (Alexis Hess)
• Abiara is only the third Texan to play for the Hornets since 1988-89
• Mandaquit is only the second Hornet to hail from the "Aloha State" and the first since Jordan Kealoha (Honolulu) played two seasons for Sacramento State in 2010-12
• Charlo is the fourth Coloradan and the first since Anna Weibel and Raegen Rohn in 2018-19
• Barlow is the 10th Oregonian to suit up for the Hornets and the first since Kylie Kuhns and Natasha Torgerson in 2012-13
• Lual and Magot are among a group of seven Arizonans who have played for the Hornets, and the first since Summer Menke and Neysa Munguia in 2021-22
• Hess is the first-ever Hornet to hail from Pennsylvania
• In the program's Division I era, Hornets have called 26 states home

BENCH BOSSES
• Joining fourth-year head coach Aaron Kallhoff on the bench are associate head coach De'Audra Brown and a trio of new assistants in Halie Bergman, David Picton, and Teaunsha "Tee" Robinson
• A sideline veteran at both the junior college and Division I levels, Brown was elevated to her current position in March of 2024 and serves as the program's recruiting coordinator. She was named to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "30-under-30" coaches list in 2017 and has stops at Hawai'i, New Mexico State, Eastern Arizona College and Seward County CC
• Bergman comes to Sacramento State after eight years -- including the last three as an assistant coach -- at her alma mater, Nevada. She was a "30 under 30" honoree by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and was named one of Silver Waves Media's Top 50 Most Impactful Assistant Coaches in 2024
• Picton is in his first year serving as an assistant coach and assistant general manager with the Hornets after spending the last eight years as the founder, head coach, and technical director of Niagara Prep in Ontario, Canada, building it into one of Canada's premier prep programs. He also served as a coach and director of player development with the Kia Nurse Elite Nike EYBL program, spent 12 years coaching within the Ontario Basketball Association, and was an assistant for two years with the men's program at his alma mater, Brock University.
• Robinson enters her first year as an assistant coach and director of player development after spending last year as an assistant at Delaware State and three years at Paris Junior College in Texas. A four-year letter winner as a student-athlete at Bowie State, she also has experience as a coach at the AAU and high school levels.
• Ritter is in his second year as an assistant with the Hornets and adds the title of Director of Video and Analytics. He was a student assistant with the program from 2023-25, graduating with a degree in child and adolescent development from Sacramento State in 2025.