LA JOLLA, Calif. – The last four days have been a long, strange trip for the Chico State women’s basketball team. The next two days might feel even longer. Playing without First Team All-California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) guard Synchro Bull, the Wildcats led by as many as nine points in the second half. But the offense sputtered when fellow guards Courtney Hamilton and Caressa Williams fouled out and the Wildcats dropped a 71-65 decision to Cal State Monterey Bay in the CCAA Championship Tournament semifinals Friday night at RIMAC Arena on the campus of UC San Diego.
The Wildcats will now await word on their NCAA Championship Tournament fate. That will come Sunday night at 7 p.m. when the invitations are handed out.
“I just hope we are one of the last four in and not one of the last four out,” Wildcats Head Coach Brian Fogel said.
Chico State entered the conference championship tournament ranked No. 8 in the region, but knocked off No. 7 Humboldt State Tuesday night despite losing Bull to a first-half injury. They were forced to take the long way home due to a storm, arrived in Chico at 3:30 a.m., and then got back on the bus that afternoon to head to San Diego to face the fifth-ranked Otters Friday. The winners of the CCAA and Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championship Tournaments will earn automatic bids to the tournament, along with Pacific West regular-season champ Grand Canyon.
“We’re big Tritons fans and big fans of the ‘Lopes,” said Fogel, referring to UC San Diego and Grand Canyon. West Region No. 1 UC San Diego played No. 9 Cal State L.A. immediately following Chico State’s game and No. 3 Grand Canyon will on No. 10 Dixie State Saturday night.
Jazmine Miller scored 20 points for the Wildcats (18-10) Friday night, McKenzie Dalthorp scored 13, and Natasha Smith scored 10. Ymonne Davidson-Mays, starting in place of Bull, finished with a game-high 12 rebounds.
But Cal State Monterey Bay, which beat Chico State for the first time in three tries this season, hit 29-of-35 free throws to key the win. They made 18-of-22 in the second half. The biggest two came off the palm of Jessica Fontenette, stretching the Otters’ lead to 69-65 with four seconds left.
All those points given up at the line certainly hurt, but perhaps not as much as the foul trouble that came with them. The minutes of Davidson-Mays and Dalthorp were also minimized by foul trouble. They each finished the game with four.
“The foul trouble was our downfall,” said Fogel. “We put them on the line way too much.”
Now the Wildcats’ season is on the line – in the hands of the committee. They’re hoping their two wins against Humboldt State, two more against Cal State Monterey, one against Cal State L.A., and another against Western Washingon – all ranked among the West Region’s top 10 – make it an easy swish for the committee.
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