SAN MARCOS – The Sports Center on the campus of Cal State San Marcos has not been a friendly place to play for the Chico State women's basketball team. Since it was built in 2016, the Wildcats had only one win in that gym until Saturday afternoon when they posted a 70-65 win over one of the favorites to win the conference championship this season.
 
The win also quickly erased a memory of losing to Sonoma State on Thursday night and improve to 5-4 overall and 2-2 in the CCAA. The Cougars, meanwhile, saw its six-game winning streak get snapped while dropping to 6-3 overall, 3-1 in the CCAA.
 
Chico State's last win in The Sports Center was January 5, 2018, when it edged CSUSM 71-66, very similar to the Wildcats' win today.
 
The dynamic senior duo of Zhane Duckett and Brandy Huffhines led the effort in scoring with each dropping 17 points. Duckett went 9-of-10 on the free throw line while dishing out five assists.
 
Makenzi Laporte was also a key contributor to the win, scoring 13 points and reaching for seven of Chico State's 43 rebounds. Speaking of rebounds, that was perhaps the biggest factor of the day. While the Cougars went into the game averaging 39.8 rebounds per game, the Wildcats held them to 28 on the afternoon.
 
The Wildcats had a decent day as far as shooting goes, hitting 49.1 percent of their field goals despite only making four of those shots from 3-point range. The Cougars were 37.7 percent around the perimeter.
 
After starting the second half leading 39-32, Chico State defended that lead and a 9-0 run in the third quarter gave the Wildcats a 50-38 lead with 3:38 left, the largest gap in the game. Jordan Allred carried that momentum by scoring seven points.
 
Cal State San Marcos shifted the tide and scored a dozen points to tie the game at 50 heading into the final period, all while Duckett was on the bench resting.
 
Duckett ended up having to play the entire fourth quarter and was a factor to the Wildcats' win, scoring eight points including a 4-for-4 performance on the free throw line.
 
The Cougars had led by as many as three midway through the fourth period. Huffhines got back-to-back buckets to put the Wildcats back up front. Chico State stayed ahead by one point until Duckett got a clutch layup to make it 68-65 with six seconds left.
 
San Marcos head coach Renee Jimenez called a timeout to draw up a possible game-tying 3-point play which was busted by Ava Ranson, who chose to go with a missed layup instead of the 3-pointer and allow Laporte to get the rebound and make the two free throws to put the game out of full reach.
 
Chico State heads home as finals week begins Monday. The Wildcats will have one last non-conference game against the NAIA's Simpson as a workout before going to the holiday break. That game will be held at Acker Gym on December 19 at 5:30 p.m.