ARCATA — Brittney Taylor blasted out of the blocks quickly, scoring 15 first half points to send Humboldt State on its way to an easy 74-43 win over Chico State in California Collegiate Athletic Association women's basketball action Saturday.

Avenging a 76-72 loss to the Wildcats back on Jan. 9, the Jacks improved their overall record to 17-6 and moved to 12-4 in the CCAA. Chico State dropped to 13-10 and 9-7 in league.

"We played a similar style and philosophy this weekend against both teams," Humboldt State head women's basketball coach Joddie Gleason said. "Against Chico we knew we need more ball pressure especially against Natasha Smith and Melissa Richardson, the team's main shooters. Our players knew that we needed to not give those two any easy shots from the perimeter. Tonight we played a lot better defense as opposed to just reacting to their game like we did when we were there."

Taylor paced HSU with a career-high 27 points, while Andrea Bobic added 12 and both Luiza Osborne and Jennifer Enos contributed nine. Katie Franci grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds and dished seven assists for the Jacks, who won their fourth straight game.

"Brittney works hard at the post," Gleason said. "When one angle doesn't work she works for another. Tonight they were double-teaming Katie so Brittney did a good job of finding the open places and scoring."

Chico State was led by Renee Goldoff's 15 points and 11 rebounds. Natasha Smith was the next highest scorer with eight points.

Taylor helped the Lumberjacks grab the lead early, working inside on the offense end for quick-release layups, and pulling down rebounds on the defensive end to limit the 'Cats' chances. Her three-pointer from the top of key moved the Jacks ahead, 17-6 with 11 minutes, 2 seconds left in the first half.

Chico State scored the next five points, as Melissa Richardson's free throw brought the Wildcats as close as they would get at 17-11.  Taylor got it going again for the Jacks with a layup, and Jennifer Enos' three-pointer completed a 20-4 run that sent sent HSU into halftime with a 37-15 lead.

Humboldt State extended its lead to as many as 37 points with a 14-2 second half run that made the score 72-35. Osborne buried a pair of three-pointers during the stretch, contributing to HSU's total of 10 long-range bombs.

"Chico's a solid team when they're able to run what they want to run," Gleason said. "They have a nice inside-out combination and tonight we just did a good job of forcing them to do what they didn't want to do."

Humboldt State travels next week, heading to Southern California to face Cal State San Bernardino on Friday and Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday.

Newspaper Box Score
Chico State vs Humboldt State University
2/14/09 5:30 p.m. at Arcata, Calif. (Lumberjack Arena)
At Arcata, Calif. (Lumberjack Arena)
HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY 74, CHICO STATE 43
CHICO STATE (13-10, 9-7 CCAA)
GOLDOFF, Renee 5-10 5-6 15; SMITH, Natasha 4-13 0-0 8; VEST, Christine 2-6
2-2 6; OELSNER, Sam 2-4 0-0 4; MILLER, Annelise 1-2 0-2 2; WASHINGTON,
Ashley 1-1 0-0 2; RICHARDSON, Melissa 0-4 2-4 2; LYDON, Taylor 0-2 2-2 2;
THOMAS, Jasmin 0-2 2-4 2; EDWARDS, Cory 0-4 0-0 0; HARRISON, Courtney 0-2
0-0 0; FOSTER, Brandi 0-1 0-0 0; BULL, Synchro 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 15-53 13-20
43.
HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY (17-6, 12-4 CCAA)
TAYLOR, Brittney 11-18 4-4 27; BOBIC, Andrea 4-8 2-2 12; ENOS, Jennifer 3-4
0-0 9; OSBORNE, Luiza 3-5 0-0 9; FRANCI, Katie 3-6 0-0 7; PETERSON, Paige
1-6 2-3 4; KILGORE, Taylor 2-5 0-0 4; HOWARD, Whitney 1-1 0-0 2; O'KEEFE,
Kristina 0-0 0-0 0; WILSON, Alyssa 0-1 0-0 0; ALABA, Trisha 0-1 0-0 0;
WILLIAMS, Kayla 0-1 0-0 0; HALSEY, Bree 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-57 8-9 74.
Chico State...................   15   28  -   43
Humboldt State University.....   37   37  -   74
3-point goals--Chico State 0-10 (; SMITH, Natasha 0-3; OELSNER, Sam 0-1;
RICHARDSON, Melissa 0-4; EDWARDS, Cory 0-1; HARRISON, Courtney 0-1),
Humboldt State University 10-20 (OSBORNE, Luiza 3-5; ENOS, Jennifer 3-4;
BOBIC, Andrea 2-5; TAYLOR, Brittney 1-2; FRANCI, Katie 1-1; ALABA, Trisha
0-1; KILGORE, Taylor 0-2). Fouled out--Chico State-None, Humboldt State
University-None. Rebounds--Chico State 28 (GOLDOFF, Renee 11), Humboldt
State University 43 (FRANCI, Katie 11). Assists--Chico State 8 (EDWARDS,
Cory 3), Humboldt State University 20 (FRANCI, Katie 7). Total fouls--Chico
State 12, Humboldt State University 15. Technical fouls--Chico State-None,
Humboldt State University-TEAM. A-824