The Chico State women's basketball team returned to the winner's circle Saturday against San Francisco State, but it took a pair of clutch conversions in the final minute to notch the victory. The Wildcats—which led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter—found themselves trailing the Gators by a bucket with 34 seconds to play. McKena Barker tied the game with an offensive rebound and a put-back layup, followed by a steal and breakaway layup by Shay Stark with 11 seconds left to vault the 'Cats to a dramatic 66-64 win at Acker Gym.
Saturday's victory evened Chico State's season record at 4-4 and moved the Wildcats into fourth place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) standings with a 3-2 conference record. San Francisco State slipped to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in CCAA play.
Vanessa Holland connected on
four 3-pointers on the way to a
career-high 12 points.
The Wildcats featured four players scoring in double figures, with Vanessa Holland hitting four 3-pointers to finish with a career-high 12 on the night. Barker contributed 11 points, with Whitney Branham and Jo Paine each scoring 10. Kayla Taylor grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, while Madison Wong dished out five assists.
Chico State came firing out of the blocks, using a Holland 3-pointer and baskets by Branham, Paine, Hannah Washington and Aqeelah Williams to sprint to an 15-4 first quarter lead. San Francisco State trimmed the deficit to seven, but layups by Barker and Stark in the final minute of the period put the 'Cats up 19-8.
The Wildcats' offense continued to click in the second quarter, connecting on six of 12 field goal attempts to twice push their lead to 13. A Holland 3-pointer made the score 30-17, but the Gators answered with a 9-3 run to pull to within seven. In the period's final minute, Holland railed another trey and Taylor delivered a pair of free throws to give Chico State a 38-26 halftime advantage.
The Wildcats scored six of the third quarter's first eight points, with baskets by Taylor, Branham and Barker ballooning Chico State's lead to 44-28. San Francisco State slowly chipped away, utilizing a zone defense to slow down the 'Cats' offense and outscoring Chico State 15-6 in the last six minutes to trail 50-43 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Gators began the final 10-minute stanza on a 9-0 run to bolt into the lead before a 3-point play by Barker put the Wildcats back on top 53-52. San Francisco State responded with four unanswered points to surge back in front 56-53. For the next five minutes, it was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams letting multiple leads get away. With 52 seconds to play, San Francisco State went up 64-62, and Chico State knew it had precious little time to climb back in the contest. Taylor's try at a game-tying bucket was off the mark, but Barker grabbed the rebound and put in the layup that knotted things up at 64-all with 33 seconds left.
San Francisco State had the ball and the chance to once again take the lead, but with 14 seconds remaining, Stark picked the Gators' Courtenay Brown clean and beat everyone down the floor to score the layup that would prove to be the difference. The Gators were able to get off a desperation shot as time expired, but it fell short, giving the Wildcats the come-from-behind 66-64 victory.
Chico State plays on the road next week, traveling to the Bay Area Saturday to take on conference foe Cal State East Bay (5-5, 2-3 CCAA). Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
