The Sacramento State women’s basketball team looks to begin a new winning streak with a pair of games at The Nest this week, beginning Thursday (Jan. 19) at 7 p.m. against Idaho State.
IN THE RANKINGS: After two weeks ranked among the top 25 in the College Insider mid-Major poll, Sacramento State slipped back into the ranks of those receiving votes in this week’s poll (https://collegeinsider.com/womens-mid-major-top-25) following its first loss in over a month, picking up 47 votes to stand 29th… The Hornets made their debut in the top 25 back on Jan. 3 at No. 24, then jumped two spots to No. 22 in the Jan. 10 ranking… Those two rankings followed five consecutive weeks among those receiving votes beginning on Dec. 1… The No. 22 ranking on Jan. 10 was the highest for the program in the poll since they stood No. 22 on Feb. 11, 2014 — a season that saw them among the top 25 for eight consecutive weeks following an 8-1 start that year, reaching as high as No. 13 in early January.
NATABOU MAKES MID-MAJOR AWARD MIDSEASON CUT: Initially named as one of 25 players to the preseason watch list for the 2023 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats back on Oct. 19, junior center Isnelle Natabou got word that she has made the midseason top-15 cut on Jan. 18. The first Big Sky Conference student-athlete ever to be named to the list for this particular award, Natabou is one of only four from the West Coast named to the list along with Gonzaga’s duo of Brynna Maxwell and Yvonne Ejim as well as Portland’s Alex Fowler. Read the complete release on HornetSports.com.
NATABOU NAMED TO BIG SKY’S PRESEASON TEAM: In addition to her national honor, Natabou was also named to the seven-member preseason all-conference team, joining Montana State’s Darian White (who was selected the MVP), Idaho’s Beyonce Bea, Montana’s Carmen Gfeller, Northern Colorado’s Hannah Simental, Montana State’s Kola Bad Bear, and Weber State’s Daryn Hickock. The native of the Czech Republic became only the third Hornet to earn preseason all-league honors in the process, joining former standouts Kennedy Nicholas (2019-20) and Brianna Burgos (2016-17).
BUT WAIT… THERE’S MORE!: The accolades continued to roll in for Natabou, who was also named the Big Sky’s Preseason Player of the Year according to ESPN.com, which made its picks for all 32 Division I conferences on Oct. 25.
ABOUT THE BENGALS: Idaho State enters the week with an 8-8 overall record and a 3-2 mark in Big Sky play, having lost its last two after falling at home to Montana State (60-57) and Montana (77-68)… The Bengals are 3-4 on the road this season, but have won their last two after opening league play with wins at Northern Arizona and Northern Colorado… Grad guard Callie Bourne leads a trio of ISU players in double figures, averaging 13.8 ppg while averaging 7.2 rpg and shooting .426 from the field… Grad guard Finley Garnett (11.4 ppg) and sophomore forward Laura Bello (10.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg) are also in double figures.
SERIES NOTES: Idaho State holds a commanding 45-8 lead in the all-time series with Sacramento State after the two teams split the regular season series in 2021-22, and has won 10 of the last 11 meetings overall… The Hornets posted a 73-57 victory in Pocatello last season to snap a nine-game losing streak, while the Bengals triumphed, 67-56, in Sacramento… Five of Sacramento State’s eight wins in the series have come at home, but the Bengals have won the last six at The Nest dating back to an 83-62 victory in 2016 — the last in a four-game Hornet winning streak in the overall series.
WHAT IS THE “JOUEUR DE LA SEMAINE?”: It’s the player of the week. That sounds good, we’ll have that. Thanks to Kahlaijah Dean’s award on Jan. 10, a Hornet has now been named Big Sky Player of the Week five times in the last eight weeks (Isnelle Natabou took home honors on Nov. 29 and Dec. 13, while Dean won twice on Nov. 22 and Dec. 27) — the most of any school in the league this season. The five awards matches the 2012-13 squad for the most in a single season since the Hornets joined the league in 1996-97.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO…: Dean became the first Hornet women’s basketball player to win Big Sky Player of the Week honors three times in the same season with her award on Jan. 10, while her three career awards makes her one of only 10 Sacramento State players in the program’s Division I history to win multiple awards in a career. Her three honors trail only the four career awards claimed by Kylie Kuhns (2009-13), Alle Moreno (2010-14), Fantasia Hilliard (2011-15), Maranne Johnson (2014-18), and Natabou.
NINE TIMES? NIIIIINE TIMES.: Wake up and smell the coffee, Hornet fans, it’s already a record-setting season and we’re only halfway done. Sacramento State clinched its ninth non-conference victory of the season on Dec. 21 at Cal State Fullerton, breaking a tie with the 2013-14 squad (8-2 in non-conference games) for the most in the history of the program. Of the Hornets’ 11 non-conference opponents, seven finished with winning records and were a combined 64-50 (.561) in non-conference play. That kind of start bodes well for the Hornets, who won 18 games in 2013-14 — ranking tied for the third on the school’s single-season list.
NOT IF, BUT WIN: Sacramento State earned its 13th triumph of the season with its victory at Northern Colorado, moving to within one win of last year’s 14-16 overall record. The Hornets have now posted double-digit wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since they went six straight years with 10-or-more victories from 2011-17.
OH, YES, THEY CALL IT A STREAK: The Hornets’ win over Northern Colorado on Jan. 12 extended Sacramento State’s winning streak to seven games overall — its longest since winning seven straight from Jan. 3-24, 2015 — giving them two winning streaks of at least six games in the same season for the first time in the program’s Division I history. The last time Sacramento State had a pair of six-game winning streaks in the same year came in 1984-85, when it won 14 of its last 15 overall while posting runs of eight consecutive victories from Jan. 4-29 and six straight wins to end the year from Feb. 5-18.
THE BEST AROUND: Nothing’s ever gonna keep them down. Despite suffering their third loss of the year, the Hornets are still off to their best start in school history at 13-3 overall, breaking a deadlock with the 2013-14 squad that opened 11-1 before losing its next three consecutive games. Included in this year’s start, four straight victories to tip-off Big Sky Conference play — the first time since Sacramento State joined the league in 1996-97 that the Hornets have opened conference play with a 4-0 record.
HOME, SWEET HOME: Sacramento State’s win over Eastern Washington on Jan. 7 improved the Hornets to 5-1 at The Nest this season, including wins in each of their last five contests. The five-game winning streak is its longest since the end of the 2014-15 season, which included a WNIT second-round victory over the Eagles as the fifth victory in that stretch.
ROAD WARRIORS: The win at Northern Colorado on Jan. 12 was the Hornets’ sixth win in true road contests this season, standing just one shy of last year’s total (7-7) which were the most since the 2015-16 team also won seven games away from The Nest.
THINGS ARE BIGGER IN THE BIG SKY: In Sacramento State’s five conference games this season, the Hornets are averaging better than four points per game more than their overall scoring average, putting in 67.3 ppg overall compared to 71.6 ppg in conference play. Dean has a big hand in that boost, averaging 24.2 ppg in five league contests, helping up her overall season average to 20.4 ppg.
THIS GIRL IS ON FIRE: Kahlaijah Dean is still out there doing Kahlaijah Dean things, notching her seventh straight double-digit scoring performance with 29 points — her second-highest single-game total as a Hornet — at Northern Arizona after being held to a season-low nine points against CSU Bakersfield. In that stretch, Dean has been a machine, averaging 23.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, and 4.1 apg, while shooting .462 (55-for-119) from the floor and .878 (43-for-49) from the line during that stretch.
20-20-20-20-20-30-20 VISION: It’s truly a sight to see. Dean’s 29 points at Northern Arizona on Jan. 14 marked her seventh game with at least 20 points this year, while her 31 points against Eastern Washington were the most by a Hornet since Lianna Tillman finished with 35 at Idaho on Feb. 24 last season en route to Big Sky MVP honors.
HERE’S A QUARTER: Of Kahlaijah Dean’s game-high 29 points at Northern Arizona, 21 of those came in the second half thanks to a pair of big quarters from the Bakersfield, Calif., native. It marked the 10th and 11th double-digit quarters by Dean this season out of the 14 by a Hornet this year. She has accomplished the feat four times in the third, three times in the first, twice in the second, and two times in the fourth this year.
22 AND COUNTING: And the beat goes on. Isnelle Natabou’s 16 points at Northern Arizona gave her double-digit points in each of her last 22 games dating back to last season, averaging 15.7 ppg (346 total) in that stretch while shooting .685 (152-for-222) from the field.
ALMOST AUTOMATIC: Natabou didn’t miss much during the team’s road trip last week, shooting 15-for-19 (.789) from the field while averaging 16 points per game. Natabou was 7-for-8 in the win at Northern Colorado — the third time this year that she has shot better than 80 percent from the field in a game — and hit 73 percent at Northern Arizona, the seventh time she has shot above 70 percent from the floor.
FOUR!: One of the steadiest shot-makers in the nation continues to rank among the top five in the nation in an unsteady national ranking for field goal percentage as Natabou enters the week at No. 4 in the NCAA in the category one week after standing No. 3 in the nation. Natabou’s .675 from the field trails only Liberty’s Mya Berkman (.703), Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes (.688), and Ohio State’s Taylor Thierry (.681).
BOXING OUT AND CLOSING IN: Following a year in which she grabbed the fourth-most rebounds in a single Hornet season, Natabou has her sights set on both the school’s all-time and Division I top-10 lists for career rebounds during her second year in the green and gold. Entering Saturday with 492 boards, Natabou stands 78 shy of the all-time top-10 (Linda Simmons is 10th with 570 from 1977-81) and only 37 back of the Division I list (Emily Christensen is 10th with 529 from 2007-12).
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DARLING: Natabou is one of 20 players in the NCAA averaging a double-double (as of Jan. 16), but one of only eight to average at least 16.5 points and 10.3 rebounds along with DePaul’s Aneesah Morrow (25.6 ppg-11.9 rpg), LSU’s Angel Reese (23.9 ppg-15.4 rpg), Lehigh’s Frannie Hottinger (20.9 ppg-10.2 rpg), Gardner-Webb’s Jhessyka Williams (19.1 ppg-10.3 rpg), Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley (18.5 ppg-10.9 rpg), UNLV’s Desi-Rae Young (18.0 ppg-10.4 rpg), and Youngstown State’s Lilly Ritz (17.2 ppg-10.6 rpg).
I DOUBLE DOUBLE-DOUBLE DARE YOU: Keep on eye on your box scores. If Isnelle Natabou has a double-double, you may be in trouble. Thanks to her 16-point, 10-rebound effort in the win over Northern Colorado, Natabou collected her seventh double-double in her last nine games and her ninth of the season overall — ranking No. 11 in the NCAA in that category as of Jan. 13. In her nine double-double performances this year, the native of the Czech Republic is averaging 16.8 ppg, 13.1 rpg, and shooting 63-for-88 (.716) from the floor.
THE DEAN OF SCORING: Dean brings with her a pedigree of knowing where the basket is, reaching the 1,000 career point milestone as only a junior at Oakland University and finishing her four years with the Golden Grizzlies with 1,425 points. Following her first 16 games in the green and gold, the Bakersfield, Calif., native has brought her total up to 1,752 career points, ranking No. 25 among active scorers across the country as of Jan. 16 and posting a total that would rank second on Sacramento State’s all-time scoring list, passing Heidi Carroll’s second-place total of 1,733 from 1982-86 and trailing only the 2,064 points by Kristy Ryan from 1990-94.
1-2 PUNCH: Dean (second at 20.4 ppg) and Natabou (fifth at 16.5 ppg) are one of only two teammate tandems to rank among the top 10 in the Big Sky in scoring, joining Weber State’s Daryn Hickock (third at 17.4 ppg) and Jadyn Matthews (ninth at 13.5 ppg).
PUTTING THE “KAY” IN 1K: A picture is worth 1,000 words, but senior guard Kaylin Randhawa is now worth more than a 1,000 points in her career following her performance in the win over Eastern Washington on Jan. 7. The Turlock, Calif., native finished with 17 points, pushing her past the 1,000-point plateau in her collegiate career, which includes 524 points in three years at Pacific, 345 points last year at Utah State, and 155 points this season with the Hornets.
BLOCKING IT OUT: Boasting the Big Sky Conference’s second-best scoring defense at 59.1 ppg allowed, the Hornets have also done work on the glass, holding opponents to a league-best 28.1 rebounds per game. Sacramento State allowed only 21 rebounds to Idaho on Jan. 5, which stood as the fewest allowed by the Hornets in their Division I history for exactly a week until they gave up only 19 rebounds to Northern Colorado on Jan. 12. Two days later, Northern Arizona was held to 28 rebounds, marking the 13th time in 16 games — and the eighth straight contest — that Sacramento State has allowed fewer than 30 rebounds in a game this season.
SECOND VERSE, MORE THAN THE FIRST: The second half has been scintillating for the Hornets over their last four contests, shooting better than 59 percent (55-for-93) after the break in that stretch, compared to “only” .438 (49-for-112) in the first half of their last four games. On Jan. 12 at Northern Colorado, Sacramento State hit better than 77 percent (17-for-22) of its shots from the floor in the final 20 minutes, including a single-quarter season-best 80 percent (8-for-10) in the fourth to put the Bears away.
MIND THE GAP: The 32-point win over Northern Colorado marked the largest margin of victory in head coach Mark Campbell’s tenure, besting the 22-point win over UC Davis earlier this year. It was the program’s biggest win since a 59-point drubbing of NAIA member Pacific Union on Dec. 19, 2019, and the largest against a Division I foe since sinking Northern Arizona by the same margin in a 111-79 win over the Lumberjacks on March 4, 2016.
THREE IS MORE THAN TWO: Trust us… Peneueta has certainly done the math. In 37 career games with the Hornets, the Vancouver, Wash., native has made a living from long distance, sinking 97 of her 105 career field goals from behind the three-point line. At the media timeout of the second quarter on Nov. 22 against UC Davis, Peneueta’s previous 30 makes from the field had all been three-pointers until she posted up and found room inside for a lay-up at the four-minute mark of the period — her first two-point basket since scoring inside at Northern Arizona with 21 seconds left in a 76-62 victory on Feb. 3 last year — and she finished with a career-high three (out of four makes) two-pointers against Idaho on Jan. 5 as part of her third double-double this season.
THE PENEUETA IS MIGHTIER: One of four players in double figures against Idaho, sophomore Katie Peneueta collected her third double-double of the year in the process, adding a career-high 11 rebounds against the Vandals, while hitting a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor. However, her most impressive performance may have been at the defensive end, where she finished with a career-high seven blocks — six of those against the conference’s leading scorer Beyonce Bea. The seven blocks are tied for third on the school’s single-game list and were the most since Kennedy Nicholas had seven at Weber State on Feb. 20, 2019. The record is held by Heidi Carroll, who swatted 10 shots against San Francisco State on Feb. 21, 1983.
JUST KATIE FROM THE BLOCK: Peneueta’s three blocks at Northern Arizona on Jan. 14 gave her a Big Sky-high 29 for the season — a career-high for the Vancouver, Wash., native and the most since Isnelle Natabou had 36 last year. Standing just 14 shy of the school’s single-season top 10 list, Peneueta has at least one block in all but three games and multiple blocked shots in all but seven contests this year.
PASSING THE CRASH TEST: Another double-digit rebounding perfomance for Isnelle Natabou is nothing new for the junior, who owns five of the top eight single-game rebounding performances in the Big Sky this season. Natabou enters the week ranked among the top 30 in the nation in three of the four major rebounding categories: offensive rebounds (18th), rebounds per game (19th), and total rebounds (29th).
NO SLEEP TILL…: No rest for the weary for the Hornets as Natabou became the latest to go all 40 minutes in a game this season at Portland State on Dec. 31 — her third game this year playing all 40 minutes (or more) when you include the 43-minute performance in overtime against UC Santa Barbara and her 40 minutes against UTEP. It is the eighth time a Sacramento State player has played every minute, joining Benthe Versteeg’s 40-minute performance at Cal State Fullerton and Peneueta’s four games of 40 minutes or more (at Santa Clara, vs. UC Santa Barbara, vs. UTEP, at Cal State Fullerton).
MINUTE WOMEN: Speaking of minutes, there haven’t been many players in the Big Sky — let alone the entire country — who have seen more time on the court this year than the Hornets’ Natabou (36.2 mpg), Peneueta (35.8 mpg), and Dean (35.6 mpg). The trio ranks third, fourth, and fifth, respectively, in the league in minutes and entered the week ranked among the top 40 in the nation at 22nd, 27th, and 37th, respectively.
ARE YOU BOARD?: Natabou clearly wasn’t in the Hornets’ opener against UC Irvine, as her 20 rebounds were the most since she had 22 against Idaho in an overtime win on Jan. 22 last year and was her third career game with 20-or-more. Nationally, the 20-rebound performance is tied for the 18th-highest in the NCAA for a single-game — and the most of any Big Sky player — as of Jan. 16, and stands as one of only thirty-four 20-rebound games in the NCAA.
