CHICO – The Chico State women’s basketball team may not get to host a first round game in the upcoming California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship Tournament, but you’d be hard pressed to find any team in the conference that wants to see the Wildcats step onto its home floor. The Wildcats enter postseason play as the hottest team in the CCAA, riding a five-game winning streak that was extended with a 74-59 victory over Cal State East Bay Friday night at Acker Gym.
On a night that honored outgoing seniors Natasha Smith and Courtney Harrison, Chico State led from wire-to-wire to end the regular season with a 17-9 overall record and a 14-8 conference mark, earning a share of fifth place in the CCAA standings. While the seedings for the CCAA Championship Tournament won’t be officially announced until Saturday, the Wildcats are likely to be heading to Arcata for a first round matchup with Humboldt State, which finished in a three-way tie for second with Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Monterey Bay.
Jazmine Miller was the lone Wildcat to score in double figures Friday, with every Chico State player seeing some playing time. Miller hit four of her five 3-point attempts to finish with 16 points, with Crystal Sewell contributing nine points and a team-high seven rebounds. Smith, one of Chico State’s all-time great players, scored six points and dished out five assists in her final game at Acker Gym. The Wildcats shot nearly 48 percent from the field and matched their season high with nine 3-pointers, while on defense forced 21 East Bay turnovers.
Chico State wasted little time establishing control of the contest, jumping out to an 11-0 first half lead, with a Miller 3-pointer capping the opening run. The Wildcats still led 25-15 when they scored 15 of the next 17 points to build a 22-point bulge – 3-pointers by Smith and Harrison and a pair of buckets by both Synchro Bull and Ymonne Davidson-Mays highlighting the surge. Sewell and McKenzie Dalthorp combined for six points to put the Wildcats up 46-20, and even with East Bay scoring the final four points of the period, Chico State took a comfortable 22 point lead into the locker room at intermission.
It was more of the same in the second half, as the Wildcats utilized baskets by Dalthorp and Courtney Hamilton with another Miller 3-pointer to extend their advantage to 55-27. Cal State East Bay whittled the deficit to 18 with 12:18 left to play, but with the score 58-40, the ’Cats effectively put the game away, ripping off a 16-6 run to go up by 28 – Annie Ward coming off the bench to highlight the attack with a pair of 3-pointers. The Pioneers held Chico State scoreless over the final six minutes, but even though they came through with 13 unanswered points, East Bay fell far short of any type of comeback bid, and Chico State won going away by a final of 74-59 to sweep the season series.
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