TURLOCK – Brandy Huffhines scored 23 points to complete a 47-point weekend as the Chico State women's basketball team coasted to an 86-63 win over Stanislaus State Saturday afternoon and lock up a spot to the CCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats, who have now won seven of their last eight games, improve to 18-7 overall and 14-5 in the conference. Chico State not only keeps sole possession of second place and maintain a one-game lead over third-place Cal Poly Pomona, which was winners at San Francisco State. Both teams picked up another game on first-place Cal State San Marcos after Cal State LA held on to win. The Wildcats are now one game behind the leaders of the conference with three games to play.
The CCAA Tournament will be held March 7-9 at Cal State San Bernardino's Coussoulis Arena. The top two teams in the conference receives a bye into the semifinal round while remaining four seeds play in the quarterfinal. For more information on the conference tournament,
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Huffhines had a stellar weekend. Including the win at Cal State Monterey Bay on Thursday, the senior went 19-or-32 with a 59.3 percent shooting percentage. She also had seven 3-point baskets.
Twelve seemed to be the number of the day for three Wildcats, for it was the number of points Zhane Duckett and Jiana Creswell scored and it was also the number of rebounds for Ashleigh Barr, completing a season-high for the junior transfer from Santa Rosa College.
The Wildcats leave Fitzpatrick Arena shooting 54 percent from the field while making 10 from 3-point range.
The Warriors (14-15, 9-10 CCAA), who are fighting for the final spot to the CCAA Tournament, were led by their leading scorers Mya Blake and Liliana Marques with each dropping 14 points. Taylor Pilot had a dozen. The Warriors shot 35.2 percent from the field and impressively committed six turnovers.
Chico State got off to a good start, building a 7-3 lead 3:14 into the game. Stanislaus State would eventually get into a momentum that would allow it to tie the game on two occasions in the period. The Wildcats broke the final tie at 16 after Huffhines connected a trey near the buzzer.
The second quarter saw a scoring barrage on both sides with a combined 47 points. Chico State went on a 12-2 run to take a 46-31 lead with 43 seconds left. Stanislaus State got a pair of free throws followed by a 3-pointer off a turnover at the buzzer to shrink Chico State's lead to 10.
Chico State would go on to outscore Stanislaus State 40-27 in the second half, including 16 run to start the fourth quarter that sealed the win for the Wildcats.
After playing four games on the road, the Wildcats return to Acker Gym to close out the home schedule, hosting defending CCAA and NCAA West Region champions Cal State Dominguez Hills Thursday and Cal State LA Saturday. Both are tipping off at 5:30 p.m. The Wildcats were defeated by both teams in Southern California last month. Both the Toros and Golden Eagles are battling for a spot to the conference tournament.
