SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Senior Katie Peneueta finished with a career-high tying 20 points to go with nine rebounds while three other Hornets finished in double figures on Sunday Dec. 1, helping push the Sacramento State women’s basketball team past Wagner, 73-34, to finish third at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic in Miami.

The Hornets snapped their three-game skid, improving to 5-3 overall on the year, while the Seahawks fell to 1-6 overall with the result. The 39-point victory was the largest of the year and the largest against a Division I opponent since a 48-point triumph over Portland State on Jan. 23, 2016.

Sunday’s 34 points allowed are the fewest in the program’s Division I history and the fewest since defeating Concordia College, 78-29, on Nov. 22, 1990. Sacramento State limited Wagner to just 15 first-half points — the lowest scoring first half by a Hornet opponent since Northern Colorado trailed, 24-15, at the break on Jan. 6, 2007.

Overall, from the field, the Hornets stifled the Seahawks to the tune of a .245 (12-for-49) field goal percentage for the game, which is the lowest by an opponent since Pacific Union shot the same percentage on Dec. 19, 2019.

In only her second game back after missing the first six games of the season due to injury, Peneueta came off the bench to finish 7-of-10 from the field and 5-of-7 from long distance in 29 minutes, matching her career high set at Northern Arizona on Feb. 3, 2022, and tied against Montana State just over a year later on Feb. 23, 2023.

Her nine rebounds were also two shy of her career high of 11 set against Idaho on Jan. 5, 2023.

She was followed closely by sophomore Lina Falk, who finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 from the field and added six rebounds, three assists, and three steals. Senior Jaydia Martin chipped in 12 points on 5-of-11 from the field, adding four rebounds and six assists, while freshman Sofia Alonso finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and six assists.

Freshman Brooklyn Taylor also blocked four shots on the day, the most since Summah Hanson had four against Eastern Washington on Dec. 30, 2023.

The Hornets surrendered the first basket of the game, but it was all Sacramento State from that point on, outscoring Wagner by a 21-2 count the rest of the quarter — including a 14-0 run to close the period. The run grew to 17-0 with the first three points of the second quarter as the Hornets led by as many as 27 points in the first half en route to the 41-15 halftime advantage.

Sacramento State limited the Seahawks to four points in both the first and third quarters — tied for the fewest in a single quarter this season along with the four-point fourth quarter at Cal State Fullerton back on Nov. 14 — and tallied the fourth and fifth single-digit quarters defensively this year.

Meanwhile, the offense was clicking, finishing the day shooting 49 percent from the field overall (26-of-53) — its second-highest single-game shooting performance of the year behind only the 55 percent against Lincoln University on Nov. 10. The Hornets were also 11-of-25 (.440) from behind the arc as a team, setting season highs for both makes and percentages and the best in both categories since hitting 13-of-24 from three-point range against Idaho State at last year’s Big Sky Conference Tournament.

Sacramento State opened the second half on a 9-0 run, holding Wagner to without a point for the first six minutes of the period and to without a field goal until the final 30 seconds of the period. The Hornets led by as many as 46 points with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter and led nearly the entire game save for the 15 seconds that the Seahawks went in front to start the day and the 3:55 during which the contest was tied.

Following three straight games away from home, Sacramento State returns to The Nest this coming week, hosting Kansas City to open the second-annual Big Sky-Summit Challenge on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 6:30 p.m. The Hornets then travel to Nebraska to take on Omaha on Saturday, Dec. 7, at Noon PT prior to the start of final exams. Both games are scheduled after press time.