SEASIDE – After a quiet performance in the first half, Brandy Huffhines came out of the break and carried Chico State by scoring 19 of her 21 points in the second half to lead the Chico State women's basketball team to a 75-60 win over Cal State Monterey Bay at The Kelp Bed Thursday evening.
Much like their last meeting in Acker Gym last month, which Chico State won 70-61, The Otters (4-19, 2-16 CCAA) had to make the Wildcats (17-7, 13-5 CCAA) earn the win just to keep sole possession of second place in the standings after Cal Poly Pomona romped Cal State East Bay in Hayward tonight. Monterey Bay had led for a little over 19 minutes in the game.
The Wildcats also picked up a game over Cal State San Marcos after the Cougars lost a nailbiter to Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson tonight. Chico State now trails San Marcos by two games in the standings with four games to play.
Coming off a difficult loss to Cal State San Bernardino last weekend, in part due to a cold 24 shooting percentage and a season-low 39 points scored, Chico State appeared to have treated that game as a hiccup as it went to Seaside reaching its season average of 75 points and shooting 49.2 percent on the night.
Huffhines had an impressive night, going 9-for-13 from the field. Zhane Duckett had 13 points along with four steals and three assists and rebounds each. Makenzi Laporte, having grown up in nearby Salinas and playing in front of her hometown family and friends, dropped 10 points and came up two rebounds short from a double-double.
Jiana Creswell and Ashleigh Barr came up clutch off the bench as far as rebounding goes. Creswell had seven boards, including three offensive, and Barr had five.
Sarah Shaw led the effort for Monterey Bay, scoring 18 points and going to the glass seven times. The Otters ended the day shooting 40 percent from the field and making seven 3-pointers, two of which came from nearly an imaginary NBA line.
Chico State found itself in a deep hole in the first quarter as Monterey Bay got a run to take a 17-6 lead with 3:48 left, the largest lead for the Otters. The Wildcats got on a momentum to shrink the deficit down to five.
The Otters fought the first leg of the second period to keep the lead but the Wildcats went on a 9-2 run including a Duckett layup at the buzzer to move up front for the first time in the game and take a 34-33 into the locker room.
Both teams would go back-and-forth for the battle for the lead. Monterey Bay's Deyliana Lewis got back-to-back buckets to give her team a 44-40 lead midway through the third quarter. Chico State would then go on a 14-0 run for practically half of the third period to build a 54-44 lead. Huffhines had nine points in the quarter.
Chico State would stay up front the entire fourth quarter, despite an effort by Monterey Bay that shrunk the gap to five with 8:52 left.
The Wildcats concludes its four-game road trip Saturday visiting Stanislaus State. Tipoff is at 1 p.m. A win will clinch the Wildcats a spot to the CCAA Tournament in March. The Warriors are coming off a 71-47 win over Cal Poly Humboldt tonight. In their last meeting, Chico State beat Stanislaus State 75-57 in Acker Gym last month.
