Junior Sydney Gatson

Sacramento State has just eight games remaining on the schedule, including five on the road. The Hornets are currently 0-7 away from home (0-6 on the road) this season, including an 0-2 mark against conference competition. The team has dropped 24-straight games on the road and has not won away from home since defeating UC Riverside on Jan. 20, 2001. That same victory over UC Riverside snapped a 22-game losing streak on the road.

The Hornets will also try and snap a 30-game losing streak against Big Sky Conference competition. The team defeated Portland State at home on Jan. 27, 2001, for its last conference victory. A nine-game losing streak against Big Sky teams proceeded the win against Portland State.

Sacramento State has had just two players appear in all 19 games this season due to injuries and other factors. Last week, the Hornets suited up just eight healthy players in home losses to Montana State and Montana. The team is expecting to have junior Dolores Olivarez back in uniform this week after she missed six of the last 11 games with injury.

Northern Arizona will enter Saturday’s game with a 9-10 overall record and a 2-4 mark in the conference. The Lumberjacks currently hold the sixth and final playoff spot in the Big Sky as Idaho State (1-5) sits one game behind in seventh place followed by Sacramento State. Northern Arizona is 1-3 against conference competition at home this season with its only win coming against Portland State. The team fell at home to both Montana and Montana State last week, and Eastern Washington earlier in the season.

NAU holds a 13-2 all-time record against the Hornets and has won each of the previous 10 meetings between the two teams by an average of 23.9 points per game.

Head Coach Carolyn Jenkins

Carolyn Jenkins is currently in her third season as head coach at Sacramento State. Jenkins, who became the fifth Sacramento State women’s basketball coach in the program’s 35-year history, 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 Fresno, Calif., native and 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.

The Hornets’ women’s basketball team currently has 10 players averaging a 3.0 gpa or better. Four members of last year’s team (Crystal Conley, Danielle Iceman, Lori Kerswell and Kristine Knowlton) were named to the Big Sky Conference all-academic team.

One Down, Two To Go

Entering the season, Sacramento State set its sights on erasing three dubious losing streaks. The Hornets took care of one of them, snapping a 44-game losing streak with a 77-55 victory over Notre Dame de Namur on Dec. 21. The streak was the second-longest in NCAA Div. I history as Long Island University holds the all-time mark with a 58-game losing streak that lasted from 1986-89. Prior to the win over Notre Dame de Namur, the team’s last victory came at home against Portland State (75-56) on Jan. 27, 2001.

The Hornets will now focus their attention on snapping a 24-game road losing streak and a 30-game losing streak against Big Sky Conference competition. The team’s last victory on the road came in an 89-83 win at UC Riverside on Jan. 20, 2001. Since that time, the closest the Hornets have come to victory on the road was a 64-60 setback at Montana State on Feb. 9, 2001. The win over Portland State on Jan. 27, 2001, was also the last time the Hornets defeated a Big Sky team.

Halftime Tells The Tale

Through 19 games this season, Sacramento State is 2-0 when leading at halftime and 0-17 when trailing at the break. The Hornets held halftime leads against Notre Dame de Namur and San Jose Christian, and were victorious in both games.

In the team’s 17 losses, Sacramento State is being outscored by an average of 14.6 points in the first half. Besides the Hornets’ game against UC Riverside (where the team trailed, 27-26), Sacramento State has been outscored by at least five points in the first half of every loss. The team has been down double figures at the half nine times, including a 53-17 halftime deficit against UCLA.

Overall this season, Sacramento State is being outscored by an average of 10.4 points in the first half and 7.6 in the second half. Compared to last year, the Hornets were outscored by 18.4 points in the first stanza and 13.1 points in the second.

Injuries Affecting the Starting Lineup

Various injuries and factors have caused Sacramento State players to miss a combined 63 games this season. Despite the fact the Hornets have used the same starting lineup each of the last five games (Sydney Gatson, Diane Peterson, Sarah Craig, Danielle Iceman and Kristine Knowlton), head coach Carolyn Jenkins has been forced to use nine different starting lineups this year.

The only constant in the starting five has been Peterson, who is the only Hornet to start all 19 games this season. Other than Peterson, only Iceman (16), Gatson (15) and Craig (14) have started more than 11 games.

Freshman power forward/center Katelyn Ciampi started the first seven games of the season before suffering a stress fracture that has kept her out of action for the past 12 contests. Junior forward Alyson Thurman, who was the Hornets’ top rebounder and third-leading scorer last year, will miss the 2002-03 season with a back injury. Thurman had surgery on her back two weeks ago and the team is hopeful she’ll be able to return to the hardwood next season.

Junior power forward/center Nichole Hardaway, who sat out nearly two years because of academics, missed the first nine games of the season until being reinstated prior to the game against Saint Mary’s. Hardaway, who appeared in eight games after reinstatement (and led the team in rebounds five times), missed the last two games and is out indefinitely because of personal reasons.

Junior guard Dolores Olivarez, who redshirted last season because of an ACL injury, has missed six games this year (including four because of a sprained foot). After missing both games last week, Olivarez will return to the lineup this week.

Junior guard Sydney Gatson missed the first three games of the year with a back injury and freshman guard Sarah Craig sat out two games because of religious convictions. Gatson broke her nose two weeks ago against Weber State, but played last week despite the injury.

Freshman guard Tess Thompson suffered an ACL injury in practice three weeks ago and will miss the rest of the season while freshman guard Kate Conarroe missed two games earlier in the year due to illness.

Double-Digit Craig

Freshman Sarah Craig, who along with freshman Megan Moon became the first two Canadians to appear in a Sacramento State uniform since the program joined the Div. I ranks for the 1991-92 season, has started her intercollegiate career in impressive fashion.

Among team leaders, the Calgary, Alberta, native is currently first in scoring (12.9 points per game), field-goal percentage (.424), minutes (34.6 per game), offensive rebounds (44 total, 2.6 per game) and steals (30, 1.8 per game). In addition, Craig is tied for third on the team averaging 5.4 rebounds per game. Including last week’s 16-point performance against Montana, Craig has scored in double figures in all but three games she has appeared. She posted a season-high 20 against both Hawai’i and Air Force. She has scored 220 points this season, 61 points more than the Hornets’ second-leading scorer (Diane Peterson with 159 points), despite missing two games earlier in the year because of religious convictions (Sunday games against UCLA and Nevada).

Craig has led the team in scoring seven times and rebounding four times. Among Big Sky Conference leaders, she currently ranks seventh in steals, eighth in scoring and 14th in rebounding.

Kristine’s Career Game

One bright spot last week for the Hornets was the play of sophomore center Kristine Knowlton. The Cornelius, Ore., native had arguably her best career game against Montana State after narrowly missing a triple-double. Knowlton finished with eight points and a career-high tying 14 rebounds to go along with career highs in blocked shots (eight), steals (three) and free throws attempted (nine). The eight blocked shots were the second-highest total in Sacramento State single-game history and the 14 rebounds were the highest total by a Hornet this season.

In the following game against Montana, Knowlton again grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds despite playing just 21 minutes. Last week’s games marked the second and third times this season Knowlton has finished with double figures in rebounds. She now has seven double-digit rebound games over her two-year career.

Downtown Diane

Junior guard Diane Peterson, who is the only Hornet to start all 19 games this season, has hit at least one three-pointer in all but two games this season. The San Rafael, Calif., native transferred to Sacramento State after averaging four three-pointers per game and ranking second in the state in three-point field goal percentage (.450) at College of the Marin as a sophomore.

Peterson has knocked down at least two three-pointers 11 times, including a career-high five against San Jose Christian. She is currently fifth in the Big Sky Conference averaging 1.84 three-pointers per game. Her 35 three-pointers is a team high while the next closest Hornet (Megan Moon) has 11. Peterson is on pace to knock down 50 three-pointers this season which would tie her for third in school single-season history.

Team/Player Notes

Sacramento State combined to shoot just 25.8 percent (29-112) from the field last week. The Hornets, who are shooting just 34.1 percent from the field this season, have now shot below 30.0 percent on seven occasions. Only two players, Sarah Craig (.424) and Nichole Hardaway (.415), are shooting above 40.0 percent from the field...Sacramento State has converted at least one three-pointer in every game this season and 23-consecutive games dating back to last season...the Hornets have been outrebounded five-straight times and 13 games overall this season...after scoring just 15 points through the first 11 games of the season (1.4 ppg average), freshman Megan Moon has scored 45 points in her last eight games (5.6 ppg average).