BOISE, Idaho — Sacramento State might best define what success in college hoops has become.
Mark Campbell saw an opportunity and came to work with a vision. He turned over the roster in short-order, bringing in a few of the most powerful players the Big Sky Conference has seen in recent years.
And he made sure to identify one piece to keep, a precious, spunky guard who had endured the lowest of lows at Sac State but still represented “the heart and soul of this program,” according to Campbell, the second-year head coach for the Hornets.
On Wednesday afternoon at Idaho Central Arena, it all culminated into a historic moment for the Sac State women’s basketball team and the Hornet athletic department as a whole.
Kahlaijah Dean transferred to Sac State from Oakland University and rose to the top of the scouting report for opponents, an impressive feat given that before last season, Campbell brought in one of the most physically intimidating centers in the West. Isnelle Natabou, all 6-foot-5 of her, requires double teams, but Dean requires traps.
In the Big Sky Conference women’s hoops tournament championship game, top-seeded Northern Arizona set to limiting both of Sac State’s stars. Although the game plan and its execution were sound, Sac found a new hero in the form of senior shooting guard Jordan Olivares.
Sac executed deliberately from start to finish and Olivares had an unforgettable afternoon, pouring in 26 points and drilling three of Sac’s 10 3-pointers to boost the Hornet offense. Sac’s Kaylin Randhawa also rose to the occasion, embracing elevated opportunities and hitting four triples on the way to 20 points.
Sac’s long, smooth core rotation of six players never showed fatigue, instead reigning in the most high-tempo squad in the Big Sky, helping the Hornets leave no doubt.
Sac State closed the first quarter on a mini-run to take a four-point lead, then smothered Northern Arizona for the duration of the second quarter to blow open the game. Every time Regan Schenck and the run-and-gun Lumberjacks tried to mount a run, Sac would hit a big shot or execute sharply in the half court.
When the final horn sounded and confetti rained down onto the Hornets, the greatest single season in the history of Sac State women’s basketball continued.
The Hornets earned a coronation, following up the first regular-season Big Sky title in school history by securing the first bid to the NCAA Tournament ever by the program with a 76-63 victory here on Wednesday afternoon.
“What a game, what a run,” Campbell said. “This group is just a bunch of fighters. They are a bunch of warriors. These last three games, you have to defend to win in March. We’ve said it all year long: our defense is going to dictate how far this team can go and these last three games, this group defended at a high level.
“I’m so proud of what they’ve done and what they’ve accomplished. We are not done yet.”
Campbell has been to the NCAA Tournament once as a player with Hawaii in 2002 and as an assistant coach five times during his time at Oregon. Two off-seasons ago, Campbell was a leading candidate for several head coaching openings, including at the University of Montana.
Instead, the Lady Griz hired Brian Holsinger and Cambpell jumped at the chance to lead the Hornets. The former point guard took over a program that won three games the season before his arrival and Campbell knew he needed a floor general he could count on to run his methodical, sharp half court offense that puts and keeps the ball in the point guard’s hands as much as any in the country.
Lianna Tillman was Big Sky’s MVP last season. But Sac State sputtered down the stretch, finishing seventh and losing their first conference tournament game.
Campbell instantly reloaded, signing Dean, a 5-foot-6 dynamo who was a multiple-time All-Horizon League selection in her previous stop.
That plus the accelerated development of Natabou and the sophomore surge of stretch forward Katie Peneueta helped solidify the pieces needed to run Campbell’s offense.
Trap or pay extra attention to the hard-charging, slick-handling Dean? She’ll dump to Natabou in the post. Give the hulking center from the Czech Republic single coverage? Easy bucket. Double team on the block? Peneueta, Olivares, Randhawa and Solape Amusan can all kill you with triples.
“We have nine new players, only three kids who played for us last season and we knew what system we wanted to run from when we got hired and we tried to assembled the talents to compliment each other,” Campbell said. “But you never know until you are in the trenches.
“We felt like the pieces could fit. But you never know. But this team is led by our three seniors from the get-go. They have been incredibly mature, completely unselfish, bought in all the way.”
It became very apparent that Dean would have the ball in her hands as much as possible early on in conference play as Sac started 6-1 in Big Sky games. In Missoula against Montana, the Lady Griz trapped Dean AND doubled Natabou, leaving Sac State’s shooters open. But Peneueta wasn’t on the Montana road swing and that resulted in Sac losing both games, part of the only skid the now 25-win Hornets went on this season.
When the arsenal became fully restocked, Sac again became the cream of the Big Sky crop. In the first game of the final weekend of the season, Dean fully stamped her Big Sky MVP resume, rolling up 35 points, nine rebounds and eight assists against Montana State’s Darian White, one of the best and toughest point guards in the modern history of the league.
Dean kept rolling, averaging 21.1 points and 5.1 assists during Sac’s unbelievable 32-game run. She averaged 18.3 points, 10 rebounds and 4.3 assists in the postseason, earning tournament MVP honors.
“It was very surreal,” Dean said. “I have been saying since we got here, it’s already written. It’s already written, whatever has happened or is going to happen, it’s already written. For us to come out and fight every single game and know we had to come every game, that’s what we did to every opponent.
“I’m just glad we are here in this moment right now. It’s crazy.”
For so long, the majesty of college basketball came from triumph through adversity and playing for something bigger than oneself.
Sac certainly battled adversity within the scope of the last two seasons and the trek to the top has been not been easy. The one who represents the journey as much as the moment, the Hornet who has been through the most is Olivares.
And on Wednesday, with the lights shining brightest, the 5-foot-8 senior from Seaside, California finished with great pizzazz.
Olivares scored 69 points all season before scoring 15 points in a win over Montana on February 25. She’s scored 70 over the last five games, including setting a career-high on Wednesday to boost a program she’s been a part of longer than any of her teammates into the Big Dance.
“Man, it was all or nothing, had to sell out, my senior year and I want to go dancing,” Olivares said.
“She’s the heart and soul and the spirit of our program,” Campbell added. “She’s been at Sac State for four years. The kid had a three wins in a season. She had COvid, a coaching change and now she gets to go dancing. She’s seen it all. She’s an absolute fighter, a warrior, unselfish, humble, I’m just so happy for everyone but what that kid has gone through her senior year, I’m so happy she gets to go dancing her senior season.”
The latest ESPN Bracketology had NAU as the representative from the Big Sky Conference. Instead, it’s Sac State and a 25-7 record plus an RPI of 78 that advances to the NCAA Tournament.
The Big Sky has a conference RPI of 16 out of 32 leagues that receive automatic bids. ESPN Bracketology had NAU as a 15-seed. The Hornets may get higher. Campbell thinks they should.
“This league has great coaches, great players and we’ve seen it all so I think we will be ready,” Campbell said.
