Sacramento State junior forward Fatoumata Jaiteh scored a career-high 28 points against Portland State in the Hornet’s Big Sky Conference opener on Jan. 4.

 

SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - Sacramento State junior forward Fatoumata Jaiteh parlayed a career afternoon against Portland State in the team’s Big Sky Conference opener into league co-player of the week honors on Tuesday, Jan. 4, the conference office announced.

It is Jaiteh’s first career player of the week award and the second for a Hornet women’s basketball student-athlete after teammate Jaydia Martin picked up honors back on Dec. 10.

In the team’s first game in over two weeks, the junior from Lynnwood, Wash., helped power Sacramento State to a victory in its league opener, outlasting the Vikings for a 76-74 overtime win on the road. Jaiteh finished with a collegiate-high 28 points to go with four rebounds, a block and two steals, hitting a near-perfect 6-of-7 from the field and 16-of-19 from the free throw line.

Of her 28 points, 24 of those came in the second half and overtime, including 13 of those in the fourth quarter, as the Hornets erased an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to force the extra period. Jaiteh hit all six of her field goals after the break and finished 12-of-13 at the line in the final 25 minutes, including 6-for-6 in the overtime period alone.

Her shooting performance from the field fell just one make shy of tying the school’s Division I era single-game record of 7-for-7 set by Isnelle Natabou against Fresno State in 2022, while her 16 makes from the line were the most by a Hornet since All-American Kristy Ryan made 17 at UC Irvine on Dec. 4, 1993, and were just two shy of Ryan's school single-game record of 18 against Alaska Fairbanks on Jan. 8, 1994.

Jaiteh’s 28-point explosion double-up her previous collegiate high of 14 points set at Montana while playing with Northern Arizona on Jan. 5, 2023, and demolished her Sacramento State career high of 10 points set against Cal State Fullerton and matches against UC Davis earlier this season.

It was the second-highest point total by a Hornet this season behind only Martin’s 31 points against Kansas City on Dec. 4, while the 16 makes from the free throw line entered the week tied for the fourth-most in a single game in the nation this season.