WOMEN'S HOOPS LOOKS TO BOUNCE BACK SATURDAY AGAINST WEBER STATE
Complete Game Notes (PDF)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The Sacramento State women's basketball team saw their win streak come to an end Thursday, but they'll look to get back in the win column Saturday afternoon as they travel to Weber State for a 1:05 matinee contest.
Tipoff is scheduled for 1:05 pm PT on Saturday, Feb. 17 at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, Utah.
Saturday's game is scheduled for a 1:05 p.m. PT tipoff at the Dee Events Cetner in Ogden, Utah. Fans can watch the game live online at WatchBigSky.com. As always, live stats can be found at hornetstats.com.
The Starting Five
Kennedy Nicholas recorded her fourth double-double of the season in Sacramento State's loss at Idaho State Thursday. She leads the team with four double-doubles this year. For the season, the sophomore forward is averaging 7.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.
Maranne Johnson enters Saturday's game with 312 career, the most all-time for most career steals in Hornets women's basketball program history. She passed former teammate Fantasia Hillard (309, 2011-15) on Saturday, Feb. 10.
Hannah Friend was named the Big Sky's Player of the Week for her two-game performance against Montana State and Montana. The sophomore guard averaged 24.5 points and nine rebounds while playing 38 minutes in both games.
Senior guard Justyce Dawson recorded a career-high 20 points in Sacramento State's Saturday win over Montana. The senior has set a new career-high twice this season, scoring 17 at Eastern Washington earlier this year.
Tiara Scott has scored double-digit points in four straight games, the longest such streak of her career. The sophomore guard is averaging 15 points per game during the streak while averaging 3.5 assists and 29 minutes per game.
14: The margin of victory in Sacramento State's three conference wins. That number jumps to 20 when counting non-conference wins.
46: Sacramento State's shooting percentage in their last three games (92-198), up more nearly 10% from their season average of 37%.
7: Points needed by Maranne Johnson to become the third most scoring player in Sacramento State women's basketball history.
Scouting Weber State
Weber State enters Saturday's game against Sacramento State with a 16-8 record overall, including an 8-5 mark in Big Sky Conference play. Weber State is 2-3 over their last five games and 3-4 since last taking on the Hornets. At home, Weber State is an incredible 11-2 on the season. Their 62-60 loss Thursday at home against Portland State was their first home loss to a conference opponent this season and their first home loss since Nov. 17, 2017 (vs. Utah). Weber State is second in the conference, average 73.5 points per game, while limiting opponents to 68.7 points per game. They lead the conference in fewest turnovers, having committed just 307 (13 per game) this season. Offensively, the Wildcats are led by Larryn Brooks, whose 19.8 points per game is tops on the squad and third highest in the conference. On the defensive end of the court, Jocelyn Adams leads the Wildcats with 8.5 rebounds per game and 32 blocks. She also has 21 steals. The Wildcats are led by seventh year head coach Bethann Ord.
About Last Game
The Hornets saw their win streak come to an end Thursday night as they fell 83-71 on the road against a tough Idaho State team. All five starters for Sacramento State finished in double-digit points, led by senior point guard Justyce Dawson, who scored 13. Kenned Nicholas led the team in rebounds, pulling 12, while scoring 10 points for her fourth double-double of the season. She also added five blocks. Tiara Scott dished out five assists for the second straight game. Sacramento State found themselves trialing big but used an 11-1 run over the games final minutes to make things interesting late.
Against Weber State
The Hornets are 14-28 against Weber State since the start of the 1996-97 season, including 0-1 this year. In Ogden, the Hornets are just 5-15 against the Wildcats.
In their last matchup, Sacramento State fell at home to Weber State, 78-56, in what was one of their worst shooting games of the year (27%, 20-74).
Sacramento State is just 1-4 against Weber State in their last five matchups.
The Hornets last win in Ogden against Weber State came during the 2013-14 season, a 111-104 shootout.
Sacramento State last win against Weber State overall was at home during the 2015-161 season, an 87-64 win at the Nest.
Big Sky Breakdown
Entering Saturday's games, Sacramento State is 10th in the Big Sky Conference, a game better than both Southern Utah (2-11) and Northern Arizona (2-11).
Northern Colorado, picked to finish first in both the coaches and media preseason poll, sits atop the conference in sole possession of first place with an 11-3 Big Sky record.
North Dakota, picked second in both the coaches and media preseason poll, is ninth with a 459 conference record.
Rejected!
In addition to recording her fourth double-double of the season on Thursday, Kennedy Nicholas also added five blocks to her stat line. It was the third time this season the sophomore had four or more blocks in a game and was one off her career high of six (1/11/18 at Montana).
Nicholas has 32 blocks on the season, tied for fourth most in the Big Sky Conference. Her 1.33 blocks/game are sixth in the conference.
Grand Theft Basketball
Senior guard Maranne Johnson broke the school record for most career steals in women's basketball program history last Saturday against Montana. She now has 312 career steals, three more than former program leader (and Johnson's former teammate) Fantasia Hillard, who had 309 steals between the 2011-15 seasons.
Johnson owns the program record for most steals in a single season with 93 during the 2016-17 season.
Johnson is tied for fourth all-time in the Big Sky record books. She is tied with Weber State's Regina Okoye, who complied 312 steals between the 2012-16 seasons.
Big Sky Player of the Week
Hannah Friend was named the Big Sky's Player of the Week for her two-game performance against Montana State and Montana. The sophomore guard averaged 24.5 points and nine rebounds while playing 38 minutes in both games. It is the first Player of the Week award for the Hornets for the 2017-18 season.
A One-Two Punch
Hannah Friend and Maranne Johnson have been a knock-out 1-2 punch for the Hornets this season. The duo is both top 10 in the Big Sky in numerous offensive categories.
Total Points: Friend, 426, 5th; Johnson, 376, 10th
Field Goals Made: Friend, 145, 5th; Johnson, 145, 5th
Three-Point FG Per Game: Johnson, 2.67, 5th; Friend, 2.46, 7th
Points Per Game: Friend, 17.6, 5th; Johnson, 15.7, 11th
Dawson for 20
Senior guard Justyce Dawson set a career-high with 20 points last Saturday against Montana. She broke her previous high of 17 points (set 2/1/18 at Eastern Washington) on 8-for-10 shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from three.
Riding the Hot Shot
In the team's last three games, Sacramento State combined to shoot 46.5% (92-198), their best three-game percentage of the season and nearly 10% better than their season average of 37.7%. The Hornets shot a season-best 52.5% last Thursday against Montana State.
The Hornets are still looking for their first road win of the season after going 0-13 so far this season. As a team, Sacramento State averages just 65.5 points per game on the road, a full 11 points fewer than they average at home (76.5). Hannah Friend, the team's leading scorer, averages more than eight fewer points on the road (14.3) than at home (22.5). As a team, the Hornets are being outscored 88.2 to 65.5 on the road (-22.7).
Sacramento State has done a good job this season holding on to the basketball, having committed just 343 turnovers on the season. That number is the 59th fewest in all of NCAA Div. I and third fewest in the Big Sky Conference. Weber State leads the conference with 307 turnovers this year, the 18th best mark in NCAA Div. I.
Leaders Among Their Peers
Maranne Johnson leads all Big Sky seniors with 2.67 steals per game.
Hannah Friend leads all Big Sky sophomores with 17.4 points per game.
The Hornets won back-to-back games last weekend for the first time since winning two straight on the road at Montana and Portland State last season (January 21 and 28, 2017).
Sac State Tag Team
Hannah Friend (31 points) and Maranne Johnson (21 points) combined for 54 points last Thursday against Montana State. Their combined point total matched the most by a duo in a conference game in women's basketball program history.
Johnson was involved the last time, as she (20 points) and former Hornet Brianna Burgos (34 points) combined for 54 points on Feb. 6, 2016, also against Montana State.
Sacramento State Top-10 Watch: Points
Maranne Johnson is currently fourth all-time with 1,498 points for her career. She is now just six points back of Kylie Kuhns (2009-13) and her 1,504 career points.
Sacramento State Top-10 Watch: Assists
Justyce Dawson is sixth for most career assists in Sacramento State women's basketball program history with 289. The senior point guard is eight back of Kylie Kuhns (297, 2009-13).
Sacramento State Top-10 Watch: Field Goals
Maranne Johnson enters the weekend fourth all-time for made field goals in Hornets' women's basketball program history. Her 563 made field goals are 39 back of Heidi Carroll's (1982-86) 602. With five games remaining in the regular season, Johnson needs to average eight made buckets a game to catch Carroll.
-- HornetSports --
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