`Jacks record on the road is a drag
Women's team is 1-10 away from home, but still in tourney hunt
It's been an off-kilter season for the Cal Poly Humboldt women's basketball. While they're just one game out of a spot in the CCAA postseason tournament, the `Jacks have been a different team on the road compared to when they're playing at home in Lumberjack Arena.
Humboldt is 10-11 overall with a CCAA conference record of 8-9. The team is 8-1 at home, with their one loss coming to the top team in the conference, Cal State San Marcos 62-56. On the road though, the `Jacks are 1-10. That's the second-worst mark in the conference ahead of only the last place Cal State Monterey Bay team, which is 0-8 on the road.
Humboldt does have a chance to turn around their road fortunes this week with games against Stanislaus State, another 8-9 team in the CCAA. Before playing Monterey Bay on Saturday for their last conference road game of the regular season. Two road losses last week to Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona dropped the `Jacks from 4th place in conference, down to 7th. After the two road games this week, Humboldt concludes its conference schedule with three home games ending with a game against Chico State on Feb. 29.
“This past week of games was disappointing for us, we wanted to come away with a minimum of a split, just to help our chances but we did not unfortunately, so now we move on,” `Jacks head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said. “Obviously, we have to get over this hump of being able to win on the road. That's kind of been our Achilles heel this entire season and here we are this week with two more road games that are extremely important and we got to figure this out.”
The `Jacks offense hasn't done too differently on the road compared to at home, Humboldt has averaged 57.18 points per game on the road, while averaging 62.44 at home. On defense, Humboldt has
allowed 57.44 points per game at home, and 64.73 on the road. While both totals are better for Humboldt when they're in Arcata, it's not the striking difference you might expect considering the jarring difference in the win/ loss record. The `Jacks have averaged the same amount of turnovers in Arcata compared to away from home, with 18 a game at home and 18.09 on the road.
“I've been coaching a lot of years now and gosh this has probably been the year when it's been such a drastic difference. Over the years, I've always been one that has loved to play on the road and my teams have always done fairly decently on the road and for whatever reason this year, just like I said, haven't got over that hump,” Bento-Jackson said when asked if she's ever coached a team that's had such different results at home compared to on the road. “It has been a drastically different team from playing at Lumberjack Arena to on the road.”
Humboldt's first five road losses this season all came by 10 or more points, in recent weeks the losses have come in much closer games. On their current four-game road losing streak, the `Jacks have lost by: three (in overtime), eight, eight and six.
“Our last road trip, Dominguez Hills and Los Angeles, I really felt like our energy and our intensity and our focus and everything was much better than it was earlier this season. I hoped we could build off of that, and unfortunately, we did not. I didn't think our focus was great, we did not come out with the same energy, so again I turn and I point the finger at myself,” Bento-Jackson said. “I have to prepare them better, I have to get them more ready, more focused and just a much more competitive mindset. I don't think we necessarily competed for 40 minutes in either game.”
Humboldt is one of three teams tied for the 7th spot in the CCAA at 8-9 but even if they do make the conference tournament, the tournament will be held in San Bernardino this year and with their struggles on the road, it'd be a lot to expect them to win the three road games it takes to win the tournament.
Despite the struggles, the team's performance at home shows that they can compete with anyone in the CCAA, and in the final three weeks of the season, a postseason tournament spot is still very much within their reach.
“There's no secret what's at stake here, to try to get us to the conference tournament,” Bento-Jackson said.