Sacramento State women’s basketball has high hopes about where they’ll be in March.

Last March capped off the Hornets’ best season since 1995-96, as the team advanced to the Big Sky Tournament before losing 68-57 to Northern Arizona in the first round of the Big Sky tournament. Now, in head coach Dan Muscatell’s third season, the team will be returning the same five starters ?” Katelyn Ciampi, Ashley Cadotte, Stephanie Cherry, Cindy Alldrin and Kim Sheehy ?” from that tournament game.

“This is a bold, veteran team,” Muscatell said. “We have five seniors, juniors who are contributing a lot, plus we’ve got a nice mix of some young depth that we can bring in that really adds to the mix.”

Adding to the mix will be freshman Atty Boyer, who had eight points and three steals in 16 minutes during Friday night’s 88-39 blowout victory over Bethany College. Freshman Becca Reams, who redshirted last season, will be coming off the bench to add extra support at the forward position. Junior Ashley Storms, who played for Clackamas Community College in Oregon before making the move down south to play for the Hornets, is another redshirt from last season.

Although the Hornets don’t begin their Big Sky schedule until January, they face an onslaught of tough preseason opponents in the next couple of months. After their trip to Wyoming and Boise State next week, the Hornets will take on Southern Utah at home. Then come the real challenges.

“We’re going to be playing a nice mix of really good quality programs with a lot of local flavor tossed in there, which I think will be fun for our fans,” Muscatell said.

In December, the Hornets take on Texas Tech, Gonzaga, Nevada, Pacific and St. Mary’s, not to mention Causeway rival UC Davis at home.

Hornet guard Kim Sheehy believes the team can end up first in the Big Sky as long as they come around on the defensive end.

“We got the offense from what I’ve seen, so I think we just need to step it up defensively,” Sheehy said. “I think we have to step things up defensively a bit because we can get after other teams defensively and we have the people who can do it; it’s just, we have to do it.

“We want to end up first in the Big Sky. I can’t picture it any other way. I’m not going to say we’re going to end up third because who dreams that way?”

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Armando Botello II can be reached at [email protected]