SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Continuing a run of four games in eight days, the Sacramento State women's basketball team wings its way to New York for a pair of games against first-time opponents to close out the week. The Hornets open at Buffalo on Thursday (Nov. 12) at 3 p.m. PT, before taking on Niagara on Saturday (Nov. 14) at 10 a.m. PT. Both games will be streamed live on the ESPN+ platform.

GAME #4
WHAT: Sacramento State (3-0, 0-0 Big West) at University at Buffalo (1-1, 0-0 MAC)
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026
TIME: 3 PM PT
WHERE: Buffalo, N.Y.
ARENA: Alumni Arena
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: UBBulls.com

GAME #5
WHAT: Sacramento State (3-0, 0-0 Big West) at Niagara University (0-3, 0-0 Metro)
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026
TIME: 10 AM PT
WHERE: Niagara University, N.Y.
ARENA: Gallagher Center
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: PurpleEagles.com

GAME NOTES: Sacramento State | Buffalo | Niagara | The Big West

THE COACHES
• Sacramento State head coach Aaron Kallhoff enters his fourth season at the helm of the Hornets' program, going 38-61 in his three-plus years
• He is 116-137 overall in eight years as a head coach when you include his one season at Allen County Community College (Kansas) and his four years at Hill College (Texas)
• Buffalo head coach Kristen Sharkey is in her second season at the helm after posting a 3-27 record last year in her debut at her alma mater
• Niagara head coach Tiara Johnson is in her first season at the helm of the Purple Eagles

LAST TIME OUT
• Senior Natalie Picton finished with a game-high 22 points to lead a group of three Hornets in double figures and Sacramento State pull away in the second half for an 82-52 win over Cal State East Bay
• Junior Koko Akridge finished with 18 points while junior Achol Magot nearly posted a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds
• Jenessa Cotton added a career high-tying 10 rebounds while senior Tali Fa'i added six steals
• The Hornets used a 7-0 third-quarter run to build the lead up to double digits and a 14-2 bust two minutes later put the game out of reach

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 2026-27 
• 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 a team-high 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 BULLS
• Buffalo enters the week with a 1-1 record following a one-point win over Georgia State in its opener and an 86-62 loss at Youngstown State last week
• The Bulls return six players and add nine newcomers to the roster for the 2026-27 campaign, listing 13 underclassmen to stand as the youngest team in the Mid-American Conference
• Through two games, four Buffalo players are averaging double figures led by freshman guard Ava Lamonica at 17.0 ppg
• Sophomore Aniya Rowe was a preseason All-MAC selection after leading the Bulls in scoring (12.6 ppg), three-point percentage (.312), assists (106), steals (1.9 spg), and minutes (31.3 mpg) as a freshman
• Sophomore forward Meg Lucas is averaging a double-double at 10.5 ppg and 12.0 rpg a season after ranking among the top 40 players in the NCAA in rebounding at 9.6 rpg

ABOUT THE PURPLE EAGLES
• Niagara has opened the season with three consecutive losses and hosts in-state rival Stony Brook on Wednesday (Nov. 11) before welcoming the Hornets
• The Purple Eagles return only four players off of last season's squad that finished 1-28 overall 
• Sophomore forward Kenedie Haruna leads the team in scoring through the first three contests, averaging 9.3 points per game to go with 3.0 rebounds and a team-high seven steals
• Jade Campbell and Jisca Bila share team-high honors at 3.7 rebounds per contest

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND
• The two-game trip to the "Empire State" will be the first for the Sacramento State women's basketball program along with the first-ever meetings against both Buffalo and Niagara
• 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 of those have played either in Northern California or on a neutral court

CONFERENCE CALL
• Sacramento State has only faced one school in the Mid-American Conference heading into this week's clash with Buffalo, going 1-1 against Ohio University
• The Hornets fell to the Bobcats, 91-86, in the first meeting in 1994 on a neutral court in Hawai'i, then posted an 83-76 win at home in 2004
• Not only will Saturday's game be the first-ever meeting with Niagara, but it will also be the Hornets' inaugural meeting with a school from the Metro Conference (formerly the MAAC)

WELL, IT'S A START
• Monday's win over Cal State East Bay, Sacramento State is off to a 3-0 start for the second time in the last three seasons under head coach Aaron Kallhoff
• Along with the program's 4-0 start in 2024-25, those two seasons are the only two times that the Hornets have started a year with at least three straight wins in the school's Division I history
• A win Thursday against Buffalo and Sacramento State will match the program's best Division I start, while two victories will set a new standard
• Following a busy Monday slate on the court in The Big West, the Hornets are one of five schools in the league that are undefeated, but one of only two at 3-0 along with UC Santa Barbara 
• In addition, wins over UT Arlington and Nevada to start the season away from the friendly confines marks the first time in the program's Division I history that Sacramento State has opened a season with two straight road victories

A "PIC"-TURE WORTH 1,000 POINTS
• Senior guard Natalie Picton is closing in on a career milestone that is well within reach
• Including her first two collegiate seasons at Montana State, Picton stands just 81 points (as of Nov. 9) away from scoring 1,000 points in her career, entering this week with 919 points to her name following her 22-point performance against Cal State East Bay
• 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

PLAYING FROM AHEAD
• Sacramento State has led for all but one minute of game time in its first two games of the season, leading wire-to-wire for the second straight contest against Cal State East Bay on Monday
• The Hornets haven't trailed by more than two points all season -- the last deficit coming at the 7:42 mark of the first quarter at UT Arlington when they were down 6-4 to the Mavericks before scoring six straight points to take the lead for good

THIS ONE GOES TO NINE
• Sacramento State locked down Cal State East Bay's offense on Monday, holding the Pioneers' leading scorers -- Sierra Morris and Hailey Estrada -- to just nine points
• It is the first time that the Hornets' have not allowed a double-digit scorer since Nov. 16, 2021, in a 76-53 win over Sonoma State at home

SWIPER, NO SWIPING!
• The Hornets were the ones with active hands on Monday against the Pioneers, collecting 17 steals off 23 turnovers in the 30-point win
• Sacramento State's 17 swipes were the most since it had 17 against Idaho State on Jan. 1 of last year
• Individually, senior Tali Fa'i led the way with six of the 17 steals, setting a new Sacramento State career high and surpassing the four she had against Simpson University on Dec. 15 of last season
• Her six steals were the most by a Hornet player since Benthe Versteeg had six against Weber State on Jan. 3 of last year
• All told, Fa'i's nine steals are tied for the most in The Big West after Monday's games

KOKO BEWARE
• Junior Koko Akridge is enjoying quite a start to her Sacramento State women's basketball career, finishing in double figures in each of the team's first three games to tip-off the 2026-27 campaign
• Akridge finished with 18 points in Monday's win against Cal State East Bay, which came just two days after posting her first 20-point performance (and the third of her career) as a Hornet thanks to a 23-point outburst in a win at Nevada 
• The team's leading scorer at 18.3 ppg entering Thursday's contest, Akridge's 23 points against the Wolf Pack matched her collegiate high in scoring, equaling her offensive output in games against Dayton and Le Moyne last season while she was at Long Island University
• Akridge's total marked the most points by a Hornet since Rubi Gray finished with 24 at Idaho State in last year's regular season finale
• Overall, Akridge enters the road trip ranked second in The Big West in points, scoring, and field goals made, while standing among the top 10 in eight categories

WINDEX WOMAN
• There wasn't much that junior Jenessa Cotton didn't grab on Monday against Cal State East Bay, tying her collegiate high with 10 rebounds against the Pioneers originally set against North Carolina on Nov. 28, 2025, while at Kansas State
• The 10 boards were the most by a Hornet since Fatoumata Jaiteh finished with 10 against Montana State on Feb. 28 of last season

QUEENS OF THE (BACK)COURT
• The Hornets' 1-2 backcourt punch of Akridge and Picton have been among the most productive duos in The Big West this year, standing second and tied for fifth, respectively in the league after Monday
• Sacramento State is one of two schools with two players in the top 10 in the league in scoring along with California Baptist's tandem of Lauren Olsen and Spela Brecelj, who rank tied for eighth at 14.5 ppg each
• Akridge and Picton have combined for 40 points in each of the last two games and have teamed up to account for 103 of the team's 219 points (47 percent)

I'LL TAKE PICTON FOR 20, ALEX
• Picton's season-high 22 points in the win over Cal State East Bay marked her seventh career 20-point performance -- six of those coming in a Hornet uniform
• It was the senior's highest point total since she finished with 24 in a win over Montana on Feb. 26, of last season

FIRST THINGS FIRST
• Monday night's game against Cal State East Bay marked the Division I debut for Hornet guard Jeniece Harmon, who played seven minutes after missing the entirety of the previous two years due to season-ending injuries after transferring from Hawai'i-Hilo
• The game also saw the first career points for freshman guard Jordan Barlow, who played all 10 minutes of the fourth quarter, adding a rebound, a block, and two assists to her first career field goal on a floater with 2:19 to play

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN, INTO THE FIRE
• A mere week after wrapping up her season on the soccer pitch, sophomore Jaety Mandaquit wasted little time in getting back to action last Saturday, playing nearly 10 minutes as a reserve for the Hornets at Nevada
• Two days later, she played 15 minutes and grabbed four rebounds in the win over Cal State East Bay
• Mandaquit wrapped up her third year with the Sacramento State women's soccer program on Oct. 31 at Cal Poly, finishing the season with four goals and an assist to finish fourth on the team with nine points while starting 17 of the team's 19 matches
• She has started 52 of her 53 appearances on the soccer pitch, collecting six goals and one assist in her career
• Last season she appeared in 31 of the team's 33 games on the court, making 11 starts and averaging 3.3 ppg and 2.4 rpg while finishing third on the team with 41 steals