A stormy Thursday night in Sacramento was the perfect setting for a pivotal Big Sky Conference matchup.
The Sacramento State Hornets were looking to snap their 3-loss slide, and the Eastern Washington Eagles were looking to snap a 10-loss streak away from home. They are deeply entrenched in a battle of the basement in the Big Sky and a win will vault either of them out of the bottom four.
The game was a neck-and-neck affair and Sac State held the lead for a little under half of the game until a monster 26-point fourth quarter from Eastern Washington buried the Hornets 68-53.
“I can’t live with giving up 26 points in the fourth quarter and only scoring 12,” Sac State head coach Aaron Kallhoff said. “That’s going to be tough, especially when you’re in a close ball game.”
This is Sac State’s fourth consecutive loss, and third at home, dropping them to 3-7 in conference play, good for seventh place.
“I felt good going into today, I’m just disappointed,” Kallhoff said.
I’m at The Nest tonight to cover #6 @SacStateWBB versus #9 @EWUWBB in tonight’s pivotal Big Sky matchup!
Scores, updates, stats and videos will be posted in the below thread, follow along ⬇️#CSUSvEWU
— Jack (@JackDannKF) February 7, 2025
Sac State led early, with threes from sophomore guard Lina Falk, senior forward Katie Peneueta and senior forward Jaydia Martin propelling the Hornets to a 2-point lead after the first quarter.
Falk, who had missed the prior two games due to illness according to Sac State Athletics, made her presence felt early on, getting two deflections in the first minute of play. Falk filled the defensive hole on the weak side block, bolstering an area the Hornets had struggled to defend without her.
Martin opened up the second quarter with threes on consecutive possessions, extending the lead to six, Sac State’s biggest of the game. Martin hit one more three in the quarter, but quickly cooled off, failing to find the net for the rest of the game.
RELATED: Sac State can’t keep pace in back-and-forth affair with Montana
Redshirt junior guard Benthe Versteeg closed the first half with some creativity, nailing a reverse baseline layup and a post-fade, drawing a foul on the latter.
Despite the loss, Versteeg had an impressive performance, recording 22 points, six rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks.
“I think it’s easy to read,” Versteeg said in reference to the Eagles’ defense. “I think I took advantage of that in this game. When my team needs to score, I just go for it. When they collapse, I have all my players open that I want.”
Versteeg and Falk started the third quarter off with back-to-back buckets, but the Eagles responded with an 11-0 run capped by a three from graduate student guard Peyton Howard. Sac State managed to pull the deficit back to one at the end of the third, but collapsed in the fourth quarter.
Limiting turnovers and protecting the paint have been significant challenges for the Hornets during their cold streak, and both plagued the Hornets again. In the fourth quarter, EWU scored all but four of their 26 points either in the paint or as a result of a turnover.
The frontcourt duo of junior forward Fatoumata Jaiteh and Peneueta struggled on both ends, shooting 1-of-7 from the field and committing seven turnovers. Their struggles resulted in a 32-18 paint point differential in favor of EWU, and forced Sac State to score their baskets around the perimeter to little avail.
“A lot of this has to do with just our ability to take care of the basketball,” Kallhoff said. “We gotta figure it out. It’s my job to figure it out, and I will.”
The Hornets will look to bounce back from this dim offensive performance and break their home losing streak on Saturday at 1 p.m. against the Idaho Vandals, who sit at 8-3 and third in the Big Sky.
