SAN MARCOS, Calif. – Having already beaten Cal State LA twice in the regular season, the Chico State women's basketball team had to scratch and claw again against the Golden Eagles in the CCAA Championship quarterfinal round Thursday evening.
Up by three with four minutes left in the game, the third-seeded Wildcats made 13 of their final 15 points on the free throw line to secure an 84-74 win over the six-seeded Golden Eagles at Cal State San Marcos' The Sports Center.
The win did two important things for Chico State, which improves to 23-6 overall. The first is the Wildcats advance to the semifinal round of the CCAA tournament and will now meet two-seeded Cal Poly Pomona at 5:30 p.m. The other part about the win is it caught the eyes of the NCAA Championship committee. Chico State entered the conference tournament ranked No. 8 in the West Region while Cal State LA was ranked ninth.
Jordan Allred came up clutch in the game by dropping 23 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Makenzi Laporte played the entire game and finished with 22 points and Meadow Aragon had 19 points including a rare 3-pointer made. The trio also came up clutch on the free throw line, combining for 19-of-22.
Ciarah Michalik also had a notable performance on the floor, scoring 13 points and grabbing six rebounds.
Like Chico State, Cal State LA relied heavily on its starters in the tournament. Sofia Fidelus led the effort with 19 points and four-time first-team All-CCAA Lily Buggs had 18 to end her future CCAA Hall of Fame career.
While the Wildcats had a 41-33 at halftime, the Golden Eagles outscored them 21-17 in the third quarter and got their first and only lead 45 seconds into the fourth period. Aragon would erase that short deficit with an old-fashion 3-point play about 20 seconds later. After block and defensive rebound from Michalik on LA's second chance play, Laporte hit a 3-pointer to give Chico State a 64-59 lead with eight minutes left. Jadence Clifton, who had a difficult day on the floor, did hit a 3-pointer to further the Wildcats' lead.
LA did bring the deficit down to three, but that was as close as it would get to Chico State, for that was when the Wildcats began their 15-6 run to finish the game.
Chico State ended the night shooting 46.4 percent (26-for-56) from the field. Cal State LA went on to make 36.5 percent (27-for-74) of its shots but did out-rebound Chico State 43-39.
After Chico State and Cal Poly Pomona took wins at their opponent's gym, the third round will now be decided on a neutral court. It will be the second straight time the Wildcats and Broncos meet in the conference tournament semifinal.
