Senior Lori Kerswell

Sacramento State will look for its first win of the season this week as the team travels to Flagstaff, Ariz., to take on Big Sky Conference-foe Northern Arizona on Saturday, Jan. 19, at 6:05 p.m. PST. The Hornets opened their conference schedule last week by losing at home to both Idaho State (75-63) and Weber State (70-53). The team will bring an 0-15 overall mark and an 0-2 conference mark into Saturday’s contest.

Sacramento State has now lost 25-straight games dating back to last season. The Hornets have also lost 11 straight on the road and 18 straight on the road against Big Sky competition. Although the numbers aren’t pretty, the team has shown recent improvement. Last week’s 12-point loss to Idaho State and 17-point loss to Weber State marked just the third and fourth games this season in which the team has lost by 20 points or less.

In addition, the team set season highs in seven categories last week including points (63), field goals made (25), field goal percentage (.463), three-point field goal percentage (.375), rebounds (48) and blocked shots (10). The 63 points scored against Idaho State marked the first time this season in which the team had gone over 60 points in a game.

Northern Arizona will enter Saturday’s contest with an 8-7 overall record and a 1-1 mark in the Big Sky. The Lumberjacks lost at home to Weber State on Friday, 76-62, before soundly defeating Idaho State, 69-35, on Saturday. The victory over the Bengals snapped a three-game losing streak as the team has now won two of its last seven games. NAU is 6-3 at home this season and has never lost to the Hornets in the Walkup Skydome. In addition, the Lumberjacks have a 12-1 all-time record against Sacramento State and have won each of the last eight contests in the series. The Hornets’ only victory came at home during the 1996-97 season.

Head Coach Carolyn Jenkins

On May 30, 2000, Carolyn Jenkins became the fifth Sacramento State women’s basketball coach in the program’s 35-year history. Jenkins, now in her second season, owns a career 3-38 record. The Fresno, Calif., native came to the Hornets after serving four years (1996-2000) as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Michigan State. Prior to the that, the 32-year old Fresno Basketball Hall of Fame electee was an assistant at Stanford from 1991-95.

While at Michigan State, the 1990 graduate of UC Berkeley spearheaded a recruiting class that was ranked among the top-25 in the country on three occasions (1996-97 through 1998-99). During her stint at Stanford, the team reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament all four years including two Final Four appearances (1991-92 and 1994-95) and a national championship in 1991-92.

In addition to her eight years of coaching at the intercollegiate level, she was also a floor coach for both the U.S. Pan American team (1993) and the U.S. Senior National Team (1994).

A Look at Last Week

Sacramento State opened up its Big Sky Conference portion of the schedule last week at home, losing to both Idaho State (75-63) and Weber State (70-53).

Friday, Mandi Carver recorded a game-high 23 points and 16 rebounds to lead Idaho State to the 12-point victory. Free throws proved to be the difference as Sacramento State went just 12-of-20 from the charity stripe compared to Idaho State’s 27-of-33 from the line. Besides the free throw disparity, virtually every other statistical category was nearly identical. After the Hornets took an early 2-1 lead, Idaho State went on a 6-2 run and never trailed the rest of the way. The Bengals opened up leads as large as 12 points in the first half and 17 points in the second half. The Hornets were led by Danielle Iceman’s career-high 19 points while Alyson Thurman chipped in 15 points and eight rebounds.

Saturday, Weber State outscored the Hornets, 42-26, in the second half en route to a 17-point victory. The Wildcats won their seventh game in a row as Stephanie Stanger scored 17 of her game-high 20 points in the second half. Stanger knocked down three three-pointers during the first four minutes of the second half. The 17-point margin of defeat was the largest lead of the game for Weber State. Danielle Iceman again led the Hornets in scoring with 18 points while Sydney Gatson added 10 points.

Tough Times

It’s no secret that the Hornets are in a rebuilding process and have struggled to find their form this season. The team has lost each of its 15 games and has dropped 25-straight dating back to last season. The 0-15 start and the losing streak are both program worsts as the Hornets have not won since defeating Portland State at home on Jan. 27, 2001. Sacramento State has lost by an average of 31.7 points per game and has yet to hold a halftime lead this season. The Hornets’ largest lead of the season (five points) came in the first half against Air Force. Besides a five-point loss to Army, the Hornets have been outscored by at least 11 points in every other contest.

Sacramento State currently ranks last in the Big Sky in 10 categories including scoring offense (50.3 ppg), scoring defense (82.0 ppg), field goal percentage (.312), rebounding margin (-5.2) and turnover margin (-12.07). The Hornets’ most glaring weaknesses have been their field goal percentage and turnovers. The team has converted on just 256 of its 820 field goal attempts. Sacramento State has shot above .400 on two occasions (.421 at San Diego and .463 vs. Weber State) while recording more than 20 field goals on three occasions (24 vs. both San Diego and Army, and 25 vs. Idaho State). Additionally, the team has turned the ball over 382 times, which breaks down to an average of 28.4 miscues per game. The Hornets committed 18 turnovers last week against Idaho State, marking the first time this season in which the team had turned the ball over less than 20 times.

Finding Her Form

Sophomore point guard Sydney Gatson has been playing her best basketball of the season over the past two weeks. The Concord, Calif., native has scored in double figures three times in the last four games after doing so just once over the first 38 games of her career. Against Gonzaga on Jan. 2, Gatson recorded career highs in points (17) and rebounds (eight). In last week’s game against Idaho State, the sophomore tallied 10 points and another eight rebounds. She followed up that effort the next night with 10 points, four assists and three steals against Weber State.

Gatson, who has started all but one game this season, redshirted last year with a back injury. She sat out the entire offseason (including fall practices) with the same injury and coaches weren’t sure she’d be able to play again. She hadn’t played in any organized game since March 4, 2000, before stepping back on the floor in the team’s season opener against Colorado State. Although Gatson is still battling the pain in her back on a constant basis, she is fourth on the team in scoring (7.0 ppg) while averaging a team-best 32.9 minutes per game.

Fresh Faces

Unbelievably, the Hornets return zero players from last season’s roster as the 2001-02 team features a school-record 10 newcomers. Sophomore guard Sydney Gatson, who redshirted last year after back surgery, returns to the active roster after playing all 27 games during the 1999-00 campaign. Sophomore forward Tola Tallman will take a medical redshirt this year after averaging 7.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game last season.

Of the 10 newcomers, six are junior college transfers, two are freshmen and two are crossover athletes. The current roster features six guards, three forwards and two centers. Besides the two freshmen, the team is also comprised of two redshirts, three sophomores, three juniors and two seniors.

Crossing Over To The Hardwood

After spending the entire fall with the Sacramento State womoen’s soccer team, senior Lori Kerswell was added to the basketball roster prior to the San Jose State game on Nov. 30. The Citrus Heights, Calif., native, who was a two-time all-Big Sky Conference soccer selection and is second in program history in career assists (12), is averaging 4.4 points in 17.4 minutes per game. Earlier this year against Air Force, she led the team in scoring with 17 points.

Icey Hot

Sophomore power forward Danielle Iceman has been the team’s go-to player for the majority of the season, but never more so than the last three games. Iceman has tallied 16, 19 and 18 points, respectively, over her last three games and has shot 57.9 percent from the field (22-38) over that span. Her 19 points against Idaho State was a career high as the sophomore had yet to score more than 14 points in a game prior to the three-game stretch.

The Redding, Calif., native has scored in double figures in all but five contests and is averaging a team-best 11.5 points per game. In addition, she has led the team in scoring on eight occasions. Among team leaders, she is first in field goal percentage (.471) and free throws made (59), and second in rebounding (5.1 per game) and free throw percentage (.720). Iceman, who is one of two Hornets to start all 15 games (Yancey), is now tied for 10th in the Big Sky in scoring.

Cleaning The Glass

After leading the team in rebounding just once through the first five games, sophomore forward Alyson Thurman has become a monster on the glass of late. The Carson City, Nev., native has at least shared the team lead in rebounding in nine of the last 10 games while averaging 8.2 rebounds per contest over that span. Thurman’s streak of seven-consecutive games as the team’s leading rebounder come to a close against Saint Mary’s after Kendra Yancey grabbed 11 boards. Overall, the forward leads the squad with 6.9 rebounds per game, a mark that ranks her eighth in the Big Sky Conference. Thurman, whose 16 rebounds against San Jose State were the most by a Hornet this season, has grabbed at least five rebounds in all but two games this year.

Notables

Freshman center Kristine Knowlton is now tied for second in the Big Sky Conference with 1.67 blocks per game. She has recorded at least one block in all but three games, including a career-high five against Idaho State last Friday...among team leaders, junior Kendra Yancey is first in assists (3.2 per game) and three-pointers made (16), second in scoring (8.7 per game), and tied for third in rebounding (4.6 per game)...against Weber State, junior Crystal Conley saw her first action since Dec. 19 after recovering from walking pneumonia...junior Samantha Miller is averaging 9.7 points per game over her last three contests...Sacramento State is fourth in the Big Sky in blocked shots (3.73 per game)...the Hornets have been outscored by an average of 16.9 points in the first half and an average of 14.8 points in the second half...Yancey is averaging 4.4 assists per game over the last seven games after averaging 2.1 assists per game over the first eight contests...the team is being outscored by an average of 44 points per game on the road and 21 points at home.