HAYWARD – High fives are certainly all around in Pioneer Gymnasium after the Chico State women's basketball team played to a 69-55 win over Cal State East Bay for the Wildcats' fifth straight win on Saturday evening.
Zhane Duckett, who has been averaging a CCAA sixth-best 15.3 points per game, dropped 19 against her former team. Including her first two years in a Pioneer uniform and her junior season with the Wildcats, the senior is now at 969 points in her collegiate career.
Makenzi Laporte also had a productive day scoring 18 points, eight of which came from the free throw line on 10 tries. She also had eight of the Wildcats' 43 total rebounds.
Speaking of free throws, that was the difference maker in the game. Chico State (9-4, 6-2 CCAA) went 15-for-23 on the line while East Bay (5-9, 3-4 CCAA) went 5-of-6.
The Wildcats hit 41.4 percent (24-of-58) of their shots while limiting the Pioneers to 31.4 percent (22-of-70).
Chico State had a very short lead a majority of the first half. It was a 3-point game with 8:36 left in the first half until Jordan Allred's jumper began a 17-5 run to give the Wildcats a 35-20 lead into halftime. Chico State went 14-fo-33 from the field in the first half while East Bay was held to 8-of-29.
Duckett had a dozen points going into intermission.
The Wildcats maintained a double-digit lead the entire third quarter. It got as high as 20 points when Morgan Mathis's 3-pointer gave Chico State a 56-36 lead nearly three minutes into the fourth quarter. East Bay got on a run that would cut the deficit down to as many as seven on two occasions.
Free throws became critical for the final 2:30 in the game. Chico State made five of their eight field goals despite making only one bucket. The defense held the Pioneers scoreless in that timespan.
Chico State returns to Acker Gym Thursday, hosting Stanislaus State at 5:30 p.m. The Warriors hit the road after dropping losses to Cal State San Marcos 70-60 Friday and to Sonoma State 68-54 on Saturday. They have lost three of their last four games.
