Toros take down Chico State
Sophomore Ison scores career-high 23 points for Wildcats in loss at home
CHICO >> The Chico State women’s basketball team was on the hunt for a spark after falling to Division III UC Santa Cruz in its last game on Jan. 18.
Haley Ison provided that spark merely eight minutes into the first quarter when she had already set a new career-high in points with 14.
But as the game carried on, the momentum and the lead swung to Cal State Dominguez Hills in the second half en route to the Toros taking down
the Wildcats 69-63 Thursday night at Acker Gym.
“I wanted to do all I could do. That was what fueled me the whole game,” said Ison, the sophomore forward from Laguna Niguel. “Coming into the third and fourth quarter we struggled to get back up. Once they got ahead we just couldn’t get the lead back.”
Ison scored a team-high 23 points, for a new career high, and grabbed eight rebounds. Myli Martinez added 12 points and Shay Stark led with eight assists.
Cal State Dominguez Hills scored 21 second-chance points while Chico State had zero. And the Wildcats were outrebounded 47-35. When the two teams squared off on Jan. 4 in Carson, Chico State dominated 81-64.
“If there’s going to be that much of a difference, you have to shoot the ball extremely well,” said Chico State head coach Brian Fogel. “We didn’t shoot the ball that well to be able to overcome that. We shot it OK, not well enough to overcome that.”
Chico State got out to a 17-11 lead following an Ison jumper with 2 minutes, 5 seconds left in the opening period. Ison finished with 16 points after the first 10 minutes.
A Mikaila Wegenke layup and another Ison jumper allowed the Wild
cats to lead 21-11 after the first quarter.
Vanessa Holland buried a 3-pointer and Myli Martinez followed with a triple of her own to give Chico State a 27-18 cushion.
The Wildcats, however, saw their 11-point lead dwindle down to just 3228 heading into halftime when the Toros went on an 8-3 run thanks to buckets from Ahlisha Henderson and Janelle Sumilong.
“I felt like we didn’t close the second quarter particularly well. We gave up a couple (points),” Fogel said. “Instead of going in up by eight or nine (points) we go up by four points. Those are huge plays.”
The Toros claimed the lead at 7:11 in the third quarter after Alzena Henry grabbed a defensive rebound that led to an Ariana Harper 3-ball to take a 35-34 advantage. Jasmine Phoolka then buried a 3 for the Toros to lead 38-34.
Chico State responded with a corner 3 from Martinez off a Stark assist to get within 38-37.
But the Toros managed to stay ahead the rest of the game.
The Wildcats got back within one point after a jumper from Brynn Thoming. Chico State tied the game 44-all after Ison’s 3-point play.
Dominguez Hills, however, padded its lead after a 3-ball from Sumilong.
In the final period, Chico State made it a onepossession game after Maddy Wong banked a 3 off the glass to cut the Toros lead to 53-50.
The two teams traded 3’s, one from Sumilong and another from Holland to get Chico State closer 58-56.
But later a Harper triple and back-to-back free throws halted Chico State’s rally and gave the Toros a 68-60 lead with 35 seconds remaining.
The Wildcats would get as close as 69-63 after a free throw made by Ison, but Chico State was unable to grab the rebound on Ison’s second shot allowing the Toros to let the clock run out.
“We let them claw back,” Ison said. “We weren’t able to answer on the offensive end.”
Chico State (10-7, 6-5 California Collegiate Athletic Association) will try to rebound as it hosts Cal State L.A. at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.