ROHNERT PARK – It's only the first official game of the season and already Makenzi Laporte had a career day as the junior scored a career-high 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds but the Chico State women's basketball team fell victim to Dominican 81-73 to open the campaign at the CCAA/PacWest Challenge held at Sonoma State Friday night.
 
Morgan Mathis dropped 15 points while Ashleigh Barr, making her official Wildcat debut, had a 9-point, 6-rebound evening.
 
Despite the loss, the Wildcats and Penguins did come up equal in shooting, with Chico State hitting 42.2 percent and Dominican reached 42.6 percent. The Wildcats did outrebound the Penguins 47-47.
 
Turnovers proved to be a difference maker that hurt the Wildcats as the 22 miscues allowed the Penguins to score 19 points off of them.
 
It was a neck-and-neck battle for most of the first half as neither side had no more than a 5-point lead. Chico State went into the intermission leading 40-37.
 
Midway through the third quarter, Chico State got a bucket from Zhane Duckett to leap over the Penguins and a 7-1 run gave the Wildcats a 56-49 lead, their largest gap in the game.
 
The fourth quarter belonged to the Penguins, who dominated the period 27-15 to take control of the game.
 
Chico State returns to the Wolves' Den Saturday to take on Fresno Pacific. Tipoff is at 2 p.m.