SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State head women's basketball coach Aaron Kallhoff announced a slate of 33 games for the Hornets' women's basketball program as they embark on their first season in The Big West Conference in 2026-27.

"I'm excited about the schedule our staff has put together," said Kallhoff, who is entering his fourth season at the helm of the program. "There are a number of quality opponents on this year's schedule and it will battle test us as we move into our first year in The Big West."

The schedule includes 16 home contests at the Hornet Pavilion and 17 games on the road — including five of the first seven to tip-off the regular season. After spending the last 30 years in the Big Sky Conference, Sacramento State will face a 22-game schedule during league play in its first year as a member of The Big West.

A home exhibition against Stanislaus State on Oct. 28 gives the hometown faithful their first look at this year's Hornets' squad, which officially opens the regular season on the road at UT Arlington on Nov. 3 and at Nevada four days later on Nov. 7. Sacramento State then welcomes Cal State East Bay on Nov. 9 for its home opener before winging its way to the East Coast for match-ups against Buffalo (Nov. 12) and Niagara (Nov. 14).

The Hornets come home to host Pacific on Nov. 20 in their final game prior to the Thanksgiving holiday before heading back out on the road with a trip to Tucson, Ariz., to take on Arizona on Nov. 29.

Sacramento State is officially welcomed into The Big West Conference the following week as the Hornets host Cal State Fullerton in their first-ever league game on Dec. 3 to kick-off a three-game homestand that includes a conference match-up with fellow league newcomer Utah Valley no Dec. 5 and a non-conference clash with San Francisco on Dec. 8.

This year's non-conference slate closes with a trip to Boise State on Dec. 11 and a home game against Simpson University on Dec. 20.

Conference play then kicks into high gear after Christmas with one of many trips to Southern California as Sacramento State travels to CSUN for a New Year's Eve clash in Northridge, Calif., before ringing in 2027 at Cal State Bakersfield on Jan. 2.

The top eight teams qualify for The Big West Championships on March 10-13 at Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nev., with the winner of the tournament claiming the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament, which begins at campus sites on March 17.

Featuring one of the nation's top transfer classes among mid-major schools in the nation according to the website On3.com, 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, advancing to the semifinals of the conference tournament for only the fifth time in school history after finishing fifth during the regular season.

The 15 wins matched the win total from the 2024-25 campaign and gave the Hornets back-to-back seasons with 15-or-more wins for the first time in a decade since the 2013-14 (18-12) and 2014-15 (18-16) teams accomplished the feat. Sacramento State finished with double-digit wins for the fourth time in the last five seasons after doing so just twice in the five years before that.

Entering 2026-27, the Hornets return seven letter winners and welcome seven new faces to the roster overall, led by Big Sky All-Tournament Team selection Natalie Picton, who finished second on the team in scoring last season at 13.4 points per game while grabbing 3.7 rebounds, dishing out 2.1 assists, and leading the team with 2.2 steals per game.

The incoming class consists of six Division I transfers and one true freshman who will help usher in Sacramento State's debut in The Big West. The group includes three Big 12 Conference transfers in Arizona's Achol Magot and the Kansas State duo of Alexis Hess and Jenessa Cotton, one from the Missouri Valley Conference in Evansville's Jelena Savic, one from The American in Memphis' Brooklyn Charlo, and one from the Northeast Conference in Long Island's Koko Akridge. Those six players join Oregon native Jordan Barlow, who recently graduated from South Medford HS.

Two of the transfers are "coming home" to California as Akridge (San Diego, Calif.) and Cotton (Orange, Calif.) return to their home state, while Pennsylvania (Hess), Arizona (Magot), and Colorado (Charlo) are also represented. Savic, a native of Melbourne, Australia, is the lone international player among the signees.

There are also family ties as Achol comes to Sacramento State to join her cousin, current Hornet Ajong Lual.

Kallhoff is joined on the bench by Associate Head Coach De'Audra Brown, who is also entering her fourth season on the sidelines, and a trio of new faces in assistant coaches Halie Bergman, David Picton, and Teaunsha "Tee" Robinson. Austin Ritter also returns for his second season as an assistant coach and moves into a new position as the program's Director of Video and Analytics.