A week before the Thanksgiving turkeys are rolled out, the Chico State women's basketball team will get its first taste of home cooking this weekend as the Wildcats host the two-day CCAA/GNAC Challenge at Acker Gym. The four-team tournament features two Friday contests, with Sonoma State taking on Saint Martin's University at 5 p.m., followed by Chico State and Western Oregon at 7. Saturday features a pair of afternoon games, as the Wildcats go up against Saint Martin's at 1 p.m. and Sonoma State squares off against Western Oregon at 3 p.m.
 
Fans can follow the action of all four CCAA/GNAC Challenge games online with Live Stats and live streaming video on the CCAA Network, with links available on the Wildcat Athletics homepage and the women's basketball schedule page. Accessing the live video stream requires a monthly subscription fee that grants users access to every CCAA event on the network, home and away.
 
The Chico State games will also be broadcast locally on KPAY Sports 1290-AM and online (links available on the Wildcat Athletics homepage and the women's basketball schedule page). Mike Baca will handle the play-by-play for Friday's game, with Mike Wessels behind the microphone on Saturday.
 
The Wildcats enter their home-opening games 1-1 on the young season after earning a split last weekend in San Rafael at the CCAA/PacWest Tipoff Challenge. Chico State lost a 59-49 decision Friday to Fresno Pacific, then notched its first win of the 2022–23 campaign with a 68-62 victory Saturday over Dominican University.
 
Western Oregon, the 'Cats' Friday night opponent, is off to a strong 2-0 start on the season. The Wolves, with former Chico State assistant Holli Howard-Carpenter back for her 10th year as head coach, posted back-to-back victories last weekend at the Saint Martin's Classic in Lacey, Washington.   
 
Western Oregon, 9-17 overall in 2021–22, was picked to finished ninth out of 10 teams in the 2022–23 Great Northwest Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll.
 
Chico State holds an 8-1 lead in the all-time series between the two teams, but it was Western Oregon winning the last meeting with the Wildcats 68-61 November 19, 2021 at the CCAA/GNAC Challenge in Monmouth, Oregon.
 
Saint Martin's enters this season's CCAA/GNAC Challenge with a 1-1 record. The Saints kicked off the 2022–23 campaign last Saturday with a 63-39 victory over Capilano University (Vancouver, British Columbia) before falling to Cal Poly Humboldt Sunday 57-45.
 
Saint Martin's posted a 13-14 record in 2021–22, and was picked to finish eighth in the 2022–23 GNAC preseason coaches poll.
 
The Wildcats have won five of the six previous meetings with the Saints, but last year Saint Martin's edged Chico State 55-54 November 20, 2021 at the CCAA/GNAC Challenge.
 
Sonoma State, the fourth team competing in this weekend's CCAA/GNAC Challenge, will not play Chico State in the tournament. The Seawolves are 1-1 on the young season, beating Dominican last Friday 65-63 before dropping a 60-53 decision Saturday to Fresno Pacific during the CCAA/PacWest Challenge in San Rafael.