CHENEY, Wash. — Senior guard Benthe Versteeg finished with a team-high 16 points to lead three other Hornets in double figures and the Sacramento State women's basketball team finished strong to outlast host Eastern Washington for a 69-60 victory in an early morning tip-off on Thursday in Cheney, Wash.
The victory put an end to the Hornets' four-game skid, improving them to 12-15 overall and 6-8 in Big Sky Conference play and sweeping the regular season series from the Eagles for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign.
Led by 20 points and eight rebounds from Kourtney Grossman, Eastern Washington fell to 12-15 overall and 5-9 in league play.
Versteeg, who scored in double figures for the fourth consecutive contest and posted her highest point total since netting 17 in a win at Montana on Jan. 31, was on triple-double watch late, adding seven rebounds and a game-high eight assists. Of her 16 points, 14 of those came in the second half, hitting 6-of-7 from the field and draining both of her free throw attempts.
Sophomore guard Rubi Gray had a huge second quarter, scoring 11 of her 13 points on the day in the second 10-minute period, adding a pair of rebounds, a block, and two steals, while junior forward Keanna Salave'a added 12 points to go with eight rebounds and a pair of blocks, hitting all five of her attempts from the floor and both her free throws.
Her 5-for-5 from the field is tied for the third-best single-game shooting performance in the program's Division I era and the best since Isnelle Natabou set the record with a 7-for-7 shooting day against Fresno State on Dec. 3, 2022.
Speaking of perfection, senior Fatoumata Jaiteh rounded out the quartet of double-digit scorers, finishing with 10 points — including a perfect 8-for-8 from the line. That performance is tied for 10th on the school's single-game chart in the Division I era and the best since Kahlaijah Dean was the same at Idaho on Feb. 2, 2023.
Following a lackluster first quarter for both teams, Sacramento State took a commanding lead with a second period that saw the Hornets shoot 41 percent overall and outscore EWU, 17-9, in the quarter. After leading by a point after one, the two teams traded baskets before a brief 7-2 burst by the Hornets turned a two-point game into a seven-point lead with 2:46 remaining.
A three-pointer by Gray punctuated the period as the Hornets went to the locker room up nine after a near buzzer-beating half-court heave by the Eagles was waived off.
After scoring the final five points of the first half, Sacramento State extended its run to 11-2 to start the second half, building the lead to 13 points just three minutes in. A three-pointer by the Eagles stopped the bleeding, but only briefly as another 11-2 run by the Hornets gave them their largest lead of the day at 19 points with 3:20 to go.
The double-digit lead carried over into the fourth when Eastern Washington began to claw its way back. A 15-point Sacramento State advantage was whittled down to just six points thanks to a 15-6 run by the home side, but the Hornets were undaunted.
Jaiteh drained a pair of free throws and a three-pointer by Jaety Mandaquit rattled home to rebuild the lead back to nine and the Eagles never got closer than seven points the rest of the way as the Hornets hit 9-of-10 from the line in the final 90 seconds to ice the victory.
Sacramento State finished the game shooting 46 percent overall, including a 64 percent clip in the second half and 60 percent from the field in the fourth quarter alone, while outrebounding EWU by a 32-26 count.
The Hornets close out their trip to the Pacific Northwest with a contest against league-leading Idaho on Saturday (Feb. 21) at 2 p.m.
