With the transfer portal window opening on Monday, Sacramento State women’s basketball is looking to bolster their roster after a second-round exit in the Big Sky Conference tournament and a 15-18 season.
The Hornets will need to replace their two graduating star senior forwards Katie Peneueta and Jaydia Martin, who put up a combined 23.6 points per game this season. Sac State will look to the portal to find scorers to surround the returning duo of redshirt junior guard Benthe Versteeg and junior forward Fatoumata Jaiteh.
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In addition to replacing their senior scoring punch, the Hornets are looking to add size, interior defense and secondary playmaking, three areas where they struggled this year. The Hornets ended the season second in the conference in total turnovers and allowed the most total rebounds.
The Transfer Portal is a big thing in today’s college athletics. Not as many athletes stay at the same school all their years. Many people do find better situations. Some don’t and the grass wasn’t greener. Kind of like going to the casino in a way.
— Aaron Kallhoff (@CoachAKallhoff) March 16, 2025
“I’d also like to get more athletic,” Sac State head coach Aaron Kallhoff said. “I want to press more and play the defensive style I’d like to. It’ll be a combination of trying to meet our needs and replace the starters and rotation players we’re losing.”
This article will be updated as transfers are announced.
In the Portal:
Guard, Lina Falk
Two-way swingman sophomore guard Lina Falk is entering the portal after starting 30 of the team’s 33 games for the Hornets this year. She averaged 9.9 points while shooting 40% from the field.
The 6’2” guard’s size and ball skills make her a threat from anywhere on the court, a willing long-range shooter and paint scorer. She scored a career-high 20 points against Long Beach State in a red-hot scoring stretch to open the year.
This momentum was slowed when an illness sidelined her midseason, and she wasn’t able to return to her pre-conference play form. During the preseason, she averaged nearly 16 points per game, but after her absence that average dropped to single digits.
Falk announced her entrance into the portal via instagram on Monday.
Center, Paula Haw
Falk’s German U18 teammate, redshirt freshman Paula Haw, is joining her in the portal. The 6’5” center only managed limited playing time across her two seasons at Sac State.
With her size, she’s an intimidating presence in the paint. She started in four total games, recording a career-high four points against Santa Clara and a career-high nine rebounds versus UC Davis.
Haw announced her entrance into the portal via instagram on Monday.
Guard, Sofia Alonso
Redshirt freshman guard Sofia Alonso is entering the portal after a pair of injury-riddled seasons cut her play time short. She appeared in 13 games across the two seasons, averaging 7.1 points and 3.2 assists while shooting 34% from the floor.
The Hornets will need to find backup guard play to replace her secondary playmaking and spell redshirt junior guard Benthe Versteeg.
The Spanish product from Valladolid competed for Spain’s U16 team in the European Women’s Challengers, like Falk and Haw.
Alonso announced her entrance into the portal via instagram on Monday.
Guard, Madison Butcher
The Hornets’s guard depth behind Versteeg suffers further with redshirt sophomore Madison Butcher becoming the third rotational guard to enter the portal. This comes after she re-established herself in the rotation following a lost year due to injury.
The Placer County native averaged 4.4 points and 0.8 assists a game coming off the bench. Her handling skills and midrange touch was valuable, when it came to carrying the offense while Versteeg rested.
Butcher announced her entrance into the portal Tuesday morning via instagram.
Guard, Jemma Amoore
Freshman guard Jemma Amoore enters the portal after playing limited minutes across 22 games this season. She scored a career-high three points versus both Wagner and UC San Diego, and recorded three steals in 10 minutes against Abilene Christian.
Amoore struggled to find consistent play time in a loaded guard rotation for Sac State, after a successful career in Australia’s NBL1 for the Ballarat Miners.
A source confirmed Amoore’s entrance into the portal on Sunday.
Sac State Additions:
Center, Ajong Lual
Sac State’s first addition through the portal is freshman center Ajong Lual, a 6’4” big out of Garden City Community College in Kansas. Lual announced her commitment via Instagram on March 26.
The South Sudanese big averaged 4.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game for the Broncbusters. Lual’s impressive footwork on both ends of the floor, paired with her length and fluidity, makes her potential as a defensive anchor down the line sky- high. In the 4-four game stretch in which she was given extended minutes, she averaged 12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks.
Guard, Tali Fa’i, Laney College
Sac State’s second addition through the portal is sophomore guard Tali Fa’i from Laney College in Oakland, California.
In her second season with the Eagles, she averaged 11.9 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.4 steals a game, leading them to an undefeated season in the Bay Valley Conference.
The 5’7” point guard from Newark, CA, scored a season high 22 points against San Joaquin Delta College during a sizzling November where she upped her scoring average to 15.6 points per game.
She announced her commitment via Instagram on March 26.
Guard, Pinja Paananen, University of Arkansas
Sac State’s latest addition in the portal is the Finnish freshman forward Pinja Paananen from the University of Arkansas. Paananen averaged 1.5 points per game in limited minutes for the last-place Razorbacks in a competitive SEC.
Paananen has logged 19 games with the Finnish national team at the U16, U18, and U20 levels, and averaged 5.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game for Forssan Alku, a team in the highest division of Finnish basketball.
Her best game for the Razorbacks was a 6-point, 4-rebound and 2-block game against UT Arlington, drilling both of her 3-point attempts in just 12 minutes of play.
She announced her commitment via Instagram on April 11.
Guard, Natalie Picton, Montana State
Sac State gained another scoring threat by adding sophomore guard Natalie Picton from last year’s Big Sky Conference champs, Montana State. The 5’5” guard was a force off the Bobcats’s bench, averaging 6.3 points and shooting 38% from deep while backing up the Big Sky Player of the Year Esmeralda Morales.
In the seven games where Picton played more than 20 minutes, she averaged 12.5 points and shot 62% from deep, helping push the Bobcats to a conference title and a March Madness appearance.
She announced her commitment via Instagram on April 12.
