Chico State wins 6th straight
Wildcats hold off push in second half by Seawolves to capture 71-67 victory
The Chico State women’s basketball team won its sixth straight game Thursday night with a 71-67 victory over Sonoma State at Acker Gym.
The Wildcats made 6-of-6 free throws in the final 40 seconds to hold off the second half push by the Seawolves.
Chico State led 39-26 at halftime, but Sonoma State trimmed that lead to 48-44 after three quarters.
The third quarter has been something the Wildcats have struggled with this season and head coach Brian Fogel addressed it after the game.
“It’s been a problem for us, but I feel like now since we have stumbled coming out of the third quarter and we’ve had some success we’ve been able to rectify the situation,” Fogel said. “Now we have that confidence so it doesn’t spin on us completely sideways.”
With 8 minutes and 35 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter Sonoma State tied the game at 48-48, the first time since the opening tip the Wildcats did not have the lead. Alli McDonald made a jump shot and followed that with one of her six 3-pointers to give the Seawolves the lead with 7:58 remaining. McDonald finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists, shooting 9-of-16 on field goals and 6-of-8 on 3-pointers.
Following a time out by Fogel, with 6:30 remaining the Wildcats regained the lead. Haley Ison made a layup, and Myli Martinez made one free throw and then followed it with a 3-pointer to give the Wildcats a 5451 lead.
“I was open, my feet were ready, it felt good so I shot it with confidence,” Martinez said.
Fogel said he’s really happy to see Martinez coming up clutch for the Wildcats in her fifth year with the program. Martinez made the goahead 3-pointer against Cal State