Box Score CHICO – The Chico State women’s basketball team received a challenging test Saturday from a talented San Francisco State squad, but as they have all season, Head Coach Brian Fogel’s student-athletes passed the test with flying colors. The No. 14 Wildcats delivered a productive second half, outscoring the Gators 34-18 over the final 16 minutes to down the visiting Gators 76-60 at Acker Gym and become the first Chico State women’s team since 1974 to start a season with 10 consecutive wins.
Saturday’s victory also improved Chico State’s record in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) to 6-0, as the front-running Wildcats increased their conference lead to two full games over second place UC San Diego and Cal State L.A. San Francisco State saw its four-game winning streak come to an end, dropping to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in CCAA play.
Courtney Hamilton led Chico State Saturday, recording her first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds while also contributing seven assists, four steals and two blocked shots. Hannah Womack enjoyed her best scoring night as a Wildcat, pumping in 14 points; McKenzie Dalthorp and Monnie Davidson-Mays each scored 12 points and pulled down seven and six rebounds, respectively. San Francisco State’s Angela Van Sickel knocked down six 3-pointers to lead all scorers with 27 points.
Layups by Womack and Hamilton and a jumper in the lane by Dalthorp helped the ’Cats roar out to a 9-0 lead to begin the game. Chico State was up 15-6 when San Francisco State finally came alive, scoring eight unanswered points to pull to within one. An 8-2 run, fueled by buckets from Dalthorp, Davidson-Mays and Analise Riezebos, gave the Wildcats a 23-16 advantage, a lead they would push back to nine. The Gators got hot prior to intermission, outscoring Chico State 10-4 over the final 2:26 of the period, and the ’Cats had to be content with a 35-32 halftime lead.
Chico State went up 40-32 in the opening minutes of the second period, but a pair of 3-pointers by Van Sickel powered an 8-0 San Francisco State run to tie the score with 16:50 remaining. The game was still knotted up at 42-apiece when the Wildcats regained the lead on a Hamilton layup, then slowly and methodically built their advantage back to double digits – fast break layups by Hamilton, Davidson-Mays and Jazmine Miller combined with jumpers from Riezebos and Synchro Bull put Chico State up 56-46. Another Van Sickel 3-pointer brought the Gators to within seven, but the Wildcats put the game out of reach by scoring 18 of the next 26 points to extend their lead to 74-57, eventually notching the 76-60 victory – Chico State’s eighth double-digit win of the season.
The Wildcats head to southern California next weekend for key road games Friday against UC San Diego and Saturday versus Cal State San Bernardino. Both games are scheduled to tip off at 5:30 p.m.
