CHICO – Already assured of a spot in next week’s California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament, there’s still a bit of unfinished business for the Chico State women’s basketball team as the Wildcats finish up the regular season with road tilts against Cal State Dominguez Hills Thursday and Cal State L.A. on Friday. A Chico State win or a Cal State Monterey Bay loss will clinch a first round home game for the ’Cats in next Tuesday’s tournament opener.

Chico State, 17-8 overall and 14-6 in CCAA play, is riding a season-high six game winning streak as they hit the road, leaving the friendly confines of Acker Gym for the first time since February 6. Chico State completed a perfect 5-0 homestand last weekend, downing Sonoma State Friday 71-39, then bouncing Humboldt State 72-61 to improve to take over third place in the conference standings. The Wildcats, ranked No. 7 in the NCAA West Region, come into this week’s games having won nine of their last 10, and while they’ve won eight straight home games, the ’Cats have not been world-beaters away from Chico this season, sporting a very ordinary 5-5 road record.

Another item on the Wildcats’ “to do” list this week is to avenge what is easily its most disappointing defeat of the season, a 58-54 loss to Cal State L.A. Jan. 22. At the time, it was the Wildcats’ third straight setback (and second in a row against one of the CCAA’s weaker teams) and had dropped Chico State to 8-7 on the season. It might have been the wake-up call that helped the Wildcats turn their season around, but rest assured Chico State doesn’t want to finish the year without at least evening the score against the Golden Eagles.

Chico State continues to be ranked among the conference leaders in several team categories – the Wildcats entered the week tops in the CCAA in rebounding (averaging 41.8 boards a game), third in scoring (averaging 66.4 points a contest), and third in field goal percentage (40.4 percent). The ’Cats lead the conference in steals, averaging 10.9 a game, and are second in assists (14.9 per contest). Defensively, the Wildcats are fourth in the CCAA, allowing 56.8 points per game, and have held opposing teams to just 27.3 percent shooting from behind the 3-point line, ranking second best in the conference.

Natasha Smith is Chico State’s leading scorer entering the final week of the regular season, averaging 11.3 points per game, and leads the CCAA in assists, averaging 3.6 per contest. Melissa Richardson – coming off a 23-point performance Saturday against Humboldt State – is averaging a career-high 10.6 points per contest; her 45 3-pointers are the fifth most in the CCAA. Synchro Bull is averaging 9.8 points per contest and 14.0 points over her last six games; Pauline Ferrall averages 9.5 points a night to go along with 5.3 rebounds a contest, while Christine Vest is the Wildcats’ top rebounder, averaging 6.0 boards per game.

Cal State Dominguez Hills, the Wildcats’ Thursday night opponent, is 10-15 overall and 9-11 in the CCAA.  The Toros are fighting for one of the three remaining CCAA Championship Tournament berths – Dominguez Hills is currently tied with Cal State San Bernardino for seventh place in the conference standings, trying to keep up with sixth place San Francisco State while holding off ninth place Sonoma State. The Toros have lost two of their last three games, though they did split a pair over the weekend, beating San Bernardino 77-65 on Friday, then falling to Cal Poly Pomona 76-68 on Saturday. With Chico State in town Thursday, Dominguez Hills would also like to avenge its worst loss of the season, an 85-34 beating Jan. 23 at Acker Gym. The Toros entered the week tied for fourth in the conference is scoring (averaging 62.0 points a game) and is the CCAA’s second best 3-point shooting team (137 treys and a 33.1 field goal percentage from behind the arc). Defensively, though, The Toros are 11th in the CCAA (surrendering an average of 64.9 points a game). Dominguez Hills is 5-5 this season on its home floor, the Torodome.

Junior guard/forward Neka Mixon, an All-CCAA First Team selection from a year ago, is Dominguez Hills’ most consistent scorer and dominant rebounder, averaging 17.5 points and 8.3 boards a game. The Toros have two other players scoring in double figures: junior guard Brandie McCann (11.4 points per game) and senior guard Whitney Gantt (10.5). Dominguez Hills boast six players with 10 or more 3-pointers on the season; senior guard Kayla Montalvo leads the way with 27 treys.

All-time, the Wildcats have won 27 of 38 meetings against Cal State Dominguez Hills, though Chico State’s 85-34 victory on Jan. 23 marked the first time the ’Cats had beaten the Toros since the 2007-08 season. In that game, the Wildcats held Dominguez Hills to just 23 percent shooting; while Chico State had four players score at least 10 points in the contest, not one Toros player posted double digits in the 51-point loss.

Friday night Chico State takes on Cal State L.A., which is limping to the finish line for the 2009-10 season – entering the week, the Golden Eagles have lost 10 straight and 14 of the last 15 to slip to 4-21 overall, and are mired in 11th place in the CCAA with a 2-18 conference record. Cal State L.A.’s struggles are nothing new – since winning 20 games in 2005-06, the Golden Eagles have languished near the bottom of the conference standings, losing 84 of their last 95 games and are 56 games under .500 (13-69) in conference play during that stretch. Cal State L.A. hasn’t won since beating Chico State on Jan. 22, although last weekend it took a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Cal State San Bernardino for the Golden Eagles to drop a heartbreaking 60-59 decision. Cal State L.A. entered the week ranked dead last in the CCAA in scoring (averaging 51.9 points a game) and ninth in defense (giving up an average of 63.2 points a contest). The Golden Eagles don’t do a lot of long distance damage – as a team, they’ve connected on just 66 3-pointers on the season and are shooting a conference-low 25.2 percent from behind the arc. At the Eagles Nest, Cal State L.A. is 3-8 on the season.

Junior guard Jazzi Johnson is Cal State L.A.’s leading scorer, averaging 13.2 points a game (seventh-best in the CCAA), and against Chico State Jan. 22 Johnson scored a game-high 22 points in just 26 minutes. Junior forward/center Jordan Kuzma contributes 8.2 points and 7.7 rebounds a contest, while sophomore guard Jameiz Terrell averages 7.1 points and is the Golden Eagles’ primary 3-point threat, with 29 treys on the season.

The Wildcats have won 26 of the 33 meetings with the Golden Eagles all-time, but Cal State L.A.’s 58-54 win on Jan. 22 snapped a 16-game losing streak to Chico State dating back to the 2000-01 season.

Tipoff for both Thursday’s tilt against Cal State Dominguez Hills and Friday’s game versus Cal State L.A. are slated for 5:30 p.m. Follow all the action with Mike Baca providing the play-by-play live on ESPN 101.7 FM and 1340 AM locally, or on the Internet via the Wildcat Athletics website.