The Sacramento State women’s basketball plays its final home contest of the 2022 calendar year on Saturday (Dec. 10), tipping off against CSU Bakersfield at 1 p.m. at The Nest. The game is the first of a doubleheader with the men’s team, which hosts Long Beach State following the women’s clash with the Roadrunners.
GAME #9
WHAT: CSU Bakersfield (2-3) at Sacramento State (6-2)
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 10, 2022
TIME: 1 p.m.
WHERE: Sacramento, Calif.
VENUE: The Nest
WATCH: ESPN+ (https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/eventCalendarId/401494491?gameId=401494491)
LIVE STATS: HornetStats.com (https://statb.us/b/430464)
BUY TICKETS: HornetSports.com (https://hornetsports.com/sports/2022/10/21/2022-23-womens-basketball-single-game-tickets.aspx?_ga=2.3780208.170784553.1670264435-373715169.1660103551)
BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in Sacramento State athletics by following us on Facebook (/SacramentoStateAthletics), Twitter (@HornetSports), and Instagram (@sacstateathletics). You can also follow the Hornets’ women’s basketball program on all three platforms at the handle @SacStateWBB.
IN THE RANKINGS: Neither Sacramento State, nor CSU Bakersfield, are ranked nationally… The Hornets, however, are listed among those receiving votes in the College Insider Mid-Major poll for the second consecutive week, doubling last week’s total to 18 votes in this week’s poll.
NATABOU ON MID-MAJOR AWARD WATCH LIST: One season after showing she’s one of the best in the West, junior post Isnelle Natabou is garnering national attention heading into the 2022-23 campaign, named as one of 25 players to the watch list for the 2023 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year Award presented by Her Hoop Stats on Oct. 19. The first Big Sky Conference student-athlete ever to be named to the list for this particular award, Natabou is joined by 24 of her peers on the initial watch list and is only one of four from the West Coast named to the list along with Gonzaga’s Brynna Maxwell, Portland’s Alex Fowler, and San Francisco’s Ioanna Kimili. For more details, read the complete release on HornetSports.com.
NATABOU NAMED TO BIG SKY’S PRESEASON HONOR ROLL: 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 also 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 ROADRUNNERS: CSU Bakersfield played only its fifth game of the 2022-23 season on Wednesday night (Dec. 7), falling on the road at Pepperdine, 80-53… The Roadrunners enter the week with a 2-3 overall record, having played four of their first five games of the season away from home… CSUB’s two wins this season have come on the road at Fresno State (56-53) and at home against Omaha (69-68) by a combined four points… Sophomore forward Hennie van Schaik averages a team-best 14.0 ppg, but hasn’t played since the Nov. 11 game against Fresno State, while freshman guard Sophia Tougas is in double figures at 10.8 ppg.
SERIES NOTES: Saturday marks the fifth-ever meeting between the Hornets and Roadrunners, with Sacramento State winning the last three straight games between the two programs… The Hornets slowed the ‘Runners, 60-50, in Bakersfield last season… The two teams haven’t played in Sacramento since the 2011-12 season when the Hornets posted an 87-74 victory at the Nest… All four of the previous meetings have been decided by 10 points or fewer.
EARLY SEASON SUCCESS: Entering the home stretch of non-conference play, Sacramento State’s early season success in 2022-23 has the Hornets off to one of their best starts in the Division I era. The six non-conference victories are the most since the 2013-14 squad finished 8-2 in non-conference play en route to an 18-win season, while a sweep of the team’s remaining three non-conference clashes against CSU Bakersfield, CSUN, and Cal State Fullerton, would give the program its most non-conference triumphs in its Division I history with nine.
START ME UP: Despite having its six-game winning streak snapped, the Hornets are still off to its second-best start in the program’s Division I history with six wins in their first eight contests, trailing only the 7-1 eight-game start — one that eventually ballooned into an 11-1 start — to open the 2013-14 campaign.
THE HORNETS’ DYNAMIC DUO: It’s a bird… it’s a plane… nope… just a pair of high-scoring Hornets doing their thing. The tandem of senior Kahlaijah Dean and junior Isnelle Natabou came up big for Sacramento State on Wednesday at San Diego State, finishing with 25 and 23 points, respectively — the second time this season that the duo has scored at least 20 points apiece since the former scored 27 and the latter added 23 at Santa Clara on Nov. 14.
NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH: But there are such things as free points, and Dean snatched up as many as she could at San Diego State on Wednesday. The Bakersfield, Calif., native finished 10-of-11 from the line against the Aztecs en route to a game-high 25 points — the most makes from the stripe by a Hornet this season and the most in a game since Tiana Johnson had the same finish against Idaho on Feb. 20, 2020.
AND I’M FREEEEE…. FREEEEE THROWIN’: The Hornets’ 13 makes in 14 attempts on Wednesday at San Diego State marked the fourth time in the last five games that Sacramento State that they have reached double-digit makes and the best percentage (.929) with a minimum of 10 attempts since netting a perfect 11-for-11 at UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 18 last season.
PAINT ME A PICTURE: And the Hornets are the artists. Sacramento State has outscored its opponents in the paint in five of the team’s eight games this year, averaging 27.3 ppg in the key to the opposition’s 25.0 ppg and topping the 30-point plateau in three games this year — including a season-high 36 at Santa Clara on Nov. 14.
OFF AND RUNNING: Through eight games, Sacramento State has put opponents in a hole quickly, shooting 51 percent (54-for-105) from the field in the first quarter and 49 percent (52-for-106) in the second en route to halftime advantages in seven of its eight contests. The Hornets are shooting a combined .502 from the field in the first half compared to “just” .419 after the break.
HERE’S A QUARTER: No one has gotten off to a better start than Dean has in her last two games, scoring 11 points in each of her last two first quarters while shooting 6-of-7 from the floor, 4-of-4 from three-point range, and 6-of-7 from the line against Fresno State and San Diego State. Her first 10 minutes against the Aztecs marked her fourth double-digit scoring quarter of the year, joining her 14-point third quarter at Santa Clara and her 10-point second quarter against UC Santa Barbara. Of the team’s seven double-digit scoring quarters by an individual, five of those have come in the first.
BLOCKING IT OUT: Boasting the Big Sky Conference’s second-best scoring defense at 59.9 ppg allowed, the Hornets have also done work in the defensive glass, holding opponents to a league-best 29.7 rebounds per game — the only school holding teams to fewer than 30.4 rpg entering the week.
THIS IS PERFECT! PERFECT, PERFECT, PERFECT!: They say that nobody’s perfect, but junior Isnelle Natabou was just that against Fresno State on Dec. 3, finishing 7-of-7 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free throw line en route to sharing team-high honors with 16 points in the win. The shooting performance is the best of the season by a Hornet, surpassing teammate Kahlaijah Dean’s 5-for-5 showing against UTEP on Nov. 26, and is the best single-game showing in the program’s Division I history, besting Margaret Huntington’s 6-for-6 from the floor against Montana on Feb. 16, 2017.
SHE’S NO. 1! SHE’S NO. 1!: Finishing “just” 10-of-16 from the field at San Diego State on Wednesday, the Aztecs were able to cool off the nation’s field goal percentage leader in Natabou, but not enough to knock the junior from atop the list as she remains first in the NCAA leaderboard at .696 (55-for-79). The native of the Czech Republic has shot better than 60 percent from the field in a game in six of the team’s eight contests, with her low coming against UC Davis when she was “just” 4-of-8 from the field en route to a 13-point, 14-rebound double-double against the Aggies.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE DANGEROUS: Keep on eye on your box scores. If Isnelle Natabou has a double-double, you may be in trouble. A season high-tying 23 points and 10 rebounds later, Natabou collected her third-straight double-double and her fifth of the season overall at San Diego State — ranking No. 9 in the NCAA in that category. Over her last three games, Natabou is averaging 18.7 points and 11.7 rebounds while shooting 23-for-30 (.767) from the field and a perfect 10-for-10 from the line. In her five double-double performances this year, the Czech Republic native is averaging 17.6 ppg, 11.8 rpg, and shooting 36-for-50 (.720) from the floor.
14 AND COUNTING: Natabou’s 23 points against San Diego State gave her double-digit points in her last 14 consecutive games dating back to last season, averaging 16.6 ppg in that stretch while shooting .703 (97-for-138) from the field.
DISHING DIVA: Sophomore Katie Peneueta was a giver on Wednesday at San Diego State, dishing out a career-high six assists for the Hornets, which stands tied for the second most by a Sacramento State player this year behind only Kahlaijah Dean’s nine at Santa Clara on Nov. 14.
THREE IS MORE THAN TWO: Trust us… Peneueta has certainly done the math. In 29 career games with the Hornets, the Vancouver, Wash., native has made a living from long distance, sinking 73 of her 78 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 last 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.
“HARNESS. ENERGY. BLOCK. BAD.”: Sophomore Katie Peneueta is feeling the flow at the defensive end of the court, swatting a career high-tying three blocks in the win over Cal Poly on Nov. 25 and blocking at least two shots in all but two games this season. Her lone block at San Diego State brought her season total to 15 — just six shy of her 22-game total of 21 blocks last year — while she enters the week leading the Big Sky Conference in both total blocks and blocks per game (1.88).
THE THEME FROM SWAT: The paint has not been a pleasant place to be for opposing shooters as of late as the Hornets have collected 24 of their 37 total blocks on the year in their last four contests, averaging 6.0 blocks per game as a team in that stretch. Sacramento State leads the Big Sky in both blocks and blocks per game and ranks No. 45 in the nation in the latter.
MINUTE WOMEN: There haven’t been many players in the Big Sky — let alone the entire country — who have seen more time on the court to start the year than the Hornets’ Kahlaijah Dean (36.1 mpg), Katie Peneueta (36.0 mpg — including all 45 minutes against UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 19), and Isnelle Natabou (35.8 mpg — including all 40 minutes against UTEP on Nov. 26). The trio ranks third, fourth, and sixth, respectively, in the league in minutes, while ranking among the top 40 in the NCAA.
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 to her name. Following her first seven performances in the green and gold, the Bakersfield, Calif., native has brought her total up to 1,578 career points, ranking No. 30 among active scorers across the country and posting a total that would rank fourth on Sacramento State’s all-time scoring list.
PASSING THE CRASH TEST: Another 14 rebounds in the win over UTEP is nothing new for Natabou, who owns three of the top five single-game rebounding performances in the Big Sky this season, along with her 20 against UC Irvine (more on that later) and the 14 against UC Davis. Natabou ranks among the top 25 in the nation in rebounds per game (12th) and defensive rebounds (24th), and stands atop the Big Sky in both rebounding average and offensive rebounds (3.9 rpg), while standing second in defensive rebounds (7.1 rpg).
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 rebounds. Nationally, the 20-rebound performance is tied for the eighth-highest in the NCAA for a single-game — and the most of any Big Sky player — as of Dec. 5, and stands as one of only fourteen 20-rebound games in the NCAA entering the week.
MIND THE GAP: The 22-point margin of victory over Causeway rival UC Davis on Nov. 22 marked the largest against an NCAA Division I opponent in head coach Mark Campbell’s tenure at the helm of the Sacramento State program and was the largest since a 23-point win over Sonoma State on Nov. 16 of last year.
HORNETS GO GLOBAL WITH SIGNEES: Head Coach Mark Campbell racked up the frequent flier miles to sign four student-athletes during the recent NCAA signing period, welcoming post Paula Haw and guard Lina Falk from Germany, forward Summah Hanson from Australia, and guard Sofia Alonso from Spain.
