WOMEN'S HOOPS HEADS TO KANSAS FOR FINAL NON-CONFERENCE GAME OF THE SEASON

1/16/2007

TAKE A BREAK
        Sacramento State takes a break from Big Sky Conference action this week and travels to the Midwest for the team’s last non-league game of the year.
        For just the second time in program history, the Hornets will take on Kansas. The game is set to tip off at 5:05 p.m. (PST) in Allen Fieldhouse. Hornet fans follow the action via a live video and/or audio feed provided by gametracker and available on kuathletics.cstv.com.

LAST WEEK
          Sacramento State went winless last week, playing two of the Big Sky''s top four teams. Undefeated Weber State knocked off the Hornets, 69-46, at the Nest on Wednesday, and defending league champion, Northern Arizona, held Sacramento State under 50 points for the eighth time this season, during an 83-46 victory in Flagstaff, Ariz.

SIGNIFICANT DIGITS
    Senior Ashley Storms has taken defensive responsibility for a number of the opponents’ leading scorers this season, recently holding Heather Barbour of Northern Colorado to seven points on Jan. 6. The Bear’s leading scorer ranks ninth in the Big Sky, averaging 13.9 points per game. Storms then held the league’s fifth leading scorer, Weber State’s Sara Tuomi, to seven points as well. Tuomi leads the Wildcats scoring 16.1 points per game.
     In the Hornets’ game at Northern Arizona, Storms scored a career-high 14 points on a 6-of-8 shooting performance, the top mark of any Sacramento State player this season.
 
SPEAKING OF SHOOTING PERCENTAGE
    Sophomore Becca Reams continues to lead Sacramento State, shooting 53.0 percent from the floor. If she maintains that percentage, it would rank in the program’s top 10 of individual single-season leaders.
    Reams shot 4-of-5 from the floor against the Lumberjacks last Saturday for her 10 points, the second time this year she has reached double figures.
    Unfortunately, Reams does not have the minimum numbers to rank in the Big Sky statistics officially, but her .530 percentage would rank fifth in Big Sky if she met the minimum.
    
STAT MACHINE
    A look at Sacramento State’s stats, and senior guard Kim Sheehy leads the team in three significant categories. She is the only Hornet player currently scoring in double figures at 10.2 points per game - slightly below her career high (10.8) set last season.
    The shooting guard is not only a threat from beyond the arc, but with her ability to read the floor,  the Santa Fe, N.M., native is averaging a team-leading 3.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Her total of 57 assists already eclipses her career of 39 set a year ago. Sheehy needs 30 more in the Hornets’ remaining 13 games to break into the program’s single-season top 10.
    She has led the team in scoring seven times this season and has 36 career double-figure scoring games.

AND ONE
    Senior point guard Stephanie Cherry is just one steal shy of breaking into the program’s all-time top 10. Currently resting at 141 career steals, just one more to her total will tie the Suisun City, Calif., native for 10th in the record books. If she adds 11 more to her total by the end of the year, Cherry would rank in the program’s top-five.
    Cherry, currently averaging 6.9 points and 1.3 steals per game, is the Hornets’ only four-year player on the roster. As a junior last season, Cherry set career highs averaging 10.6 points and 2.1 steals per game, receiving all-Big Sky honorable mention accolades for the first time in her career.

SOME PERSPECTIVE
    Sacramento State may have gone 1-3 during the first two weeks of Big Sky action, but those three losses came against currently undefeated and league leading Weber State, as well as two losses to fourth place Northern Arizona (3-1).
    Four of the nine teams in the conference have winning records against league competition, while Montana State (1-2), Eastern Washington (1-3), Portland State (1-3) and Northern Colorado (0-4) are all under .500 in league.

LEAVING ON A JET PLANE
    Sacramento State has yet to win a road game this season, not a good sign for a team that is currently in the midst of a five game-road swing. The Hornets fly all the way to Lawrence, Kansas for a Wednesday game against the Jayhawks, the Hornets’ last non-conference contest of the year.         The team returns to Sacramento before heading to Portland State and Eastern Washington beginning, Thursday, Jan. 25. After returning for the first day of spring semester classes on Jan. 29, the Hornets head to their final destination at Northern Colorado on Wednesday, Jan. 31.

KANSAS
    Kansas enters Wednesday’s game on a seven-game losing streak. The Jayhawks are 5-11 overall, suffering recent conference losses to Oklahoma State and Nebraska.
    Kelly Kohn leads the team averaging 11.6 points and 4.0 assists per game. Kansas has played two West Coast-based opponents this year, falling to Cal, 73-65, and defeating Santa Clara, 78-68.


    Senior guard Kim Sheehy''s fifth three-pointer at Louisville elevated her to second all-time in the Hornets'' record book...she now has 149 career treys, trailing Michelle St. Clair (175)...senior point guard Stephanie Cherry has 22 steals this season (141 career) and needs just one more to break in the program''s top 10...Atty Boyer''s 23-point performance against 19th-ranked UCLA was the most any Hornet has scored since Ashley Cadotte scored 23 against Montana State on Feb. 18, 2006...Sacramento State did not shoot a single free throw in its game against the UC Davis, it was the first time in the Hornets'' Division I program history they had not been called to the foul line at least once...sophomore Becca Reams broke two career highs at Pacific, scoring 20 points and adding seven rebounds...her 7-of-10 shooting performance was the best of any Hornet this year...sophomore Jourdan Willard''s three blocks against Northern Colorado were the most of any player this year as well...Ashley Storms set a new career high with a 14-point performance at Northern Arizona on Jan. 13...Erika Edwards continues to lead all freshmen in the Big Sky averaging 5.0 rebounds per game...Sacramento State has traveled 16,611 miles this year, with its longest trip to Hawaii in November.