SAN MARCOS, Calif. – "We'll take this."
 
That's what Chico State head women's basketball coach Brian Fogel said to the 'Voice of the Wildcats' Mike Baca and to the listeners on KPAY Sports at the end of his postgame interview as his Wildcats had to scratch and claw to a 76-61 win over a winless Cal State San Marcos at The Sports Center Thursday night.
 
The win elevates Chico State to 13-2 overall and 8-1 in the CCAA, keeping pace with Cal Poly Pomona, which also beat a winless conference team in Cal State Monterey Bay at home to have identical records with the Wildcats. Both teams remain in second in the standings and stay one game behind undefeated No. 3 Cal State Dominguez Hills, which did the two a favor by blowing out fourth-place Cal State East Bay to give both the Wildcats and Broncos a three-game lead over the Pioneers and Cal State LA.
 
Cal State San Marcos, which saw a mass exodus - including head coach Renee Jimenez - over the summer following a semifinal appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight last season, is still in search of a win after 14 attempts under new leader Jana Pearson.
 
Although Chico State won by 14, the result did not speak truly as San Marcos showed hunger and desperation for most of the game. Both teams traded off the lead 10 times and had tied on six different occasions. Chico State did hold the lead for 30:24 in the game, but it wasn't until a 10-0 run in the span of three minutes that gave the Wildcats a 46-39 lead with 5:09 left in the third quarter. Chico State would stay in front the rest of the game, but San Marcos did not allow the Wildcats to run away with the win easily, having reduced the deficit down to at least five at the 8:21 mark in the final period.
 
Jordan Allred came up big for the Wildcats by scoring 13 of her 19 points in the second half, including nine in the fourth quarter. Meadow Aragon continues her impressive performance by dropping 17 points and gathering 14 rebounds, including eight offensively, for another double-double.
 
Makenzi Laporte inches closer to becoming the 11^th player in Chico State women's basketball history to reach 1,000 career points. The Salinas native scored 20 points to reach 994 in her time at Chico State.
 
The trio each had four assists in the game.
 
Jadence Clifton rounded out the top scoring for Chico State with 11 points.
 
San Marcos was led by Rory Hetrick and Rose Morse, who both had 13 points in the game. Tatum Tamashiro contributed with 11 points while Destiny Okonkwo grabbed 10 of the Cougars' 39 total rebounds.
 
One of the unusual areas that aided the Cougars in the game was 3-point shooting, which they collectively went 11-for-29 (37.9 percent). San Marcos went into the evening averaging 29.6 percent from the distance this season. The Cougars, overall, shot 33.8 percent (23-for-68) from all around the perimeter.
 
Chico State hit 42.9 percent (27-for-63) of its' shots.
 
The Wildcats will fly back to Northern California Friday and conclude their longest road trip of the season - as far as distance goes – at Sonoma State for a 1 p.m. matchup on Saturday. The Seawolves are coming off a 70-62 overtime win over Cal Poly Humboldt in Rohnert Park tonight.

Postgame Notes
• With the win, Chico State is now 7-11 all-time against Cal State San Marcos dating back to their first meeting in 2015, when the Cougars were in their first year in NCAA Division II and in the CCAA.
• Head coach Brian Fogel, in his 17^th season at the helm, is 262-175 in his career. He is currently chasing Fran Coslet's program record 286 wins.
• The 11 made 3-pointers allowed against Chico State in tonight's game is second most on the season. The most was 12 against Menlo back in November. Opponents are averaging 6.3 three-pointers made against the Wildcats this season.
• As she continues to chase the millennial point mark, Makenzi Laporte has been pursuing it in solid fashion. While she is averaging 15.7 points per game in 15 games, Laporte is averaging 18 points in the last nine games.
• Meadow Aragon continues to dominate both the CCAA and the NCAA West Region in field goal percentage this season. The senior post player entered the week averaging 65.8 percent this season, which ranks second best in all of NCAA Division II alongside Seton Hill's Mia Kalich. Washburn's Yibari Nwidadah leads the country with a 66.5 average.
• By making eight offensive rebounds, Meadow Aragon tied her career best. She made eight rebounds when she was with Western Oregon against the team she now plays for in Chico State. That was at Acker Gym on November 19, 2021.
• Staying on the offensive rebounds column, Jadence Clifton also tied her personal best of four. Her last four offensive boards was December 17, 2022, when she was with Academy of Art taking on Azusa Pacific at home.
• The 13-2 record in 15 games played from the start of the season is the best since 2012-13. That team would pick up its second loss on the 15^th game of that season.