ARCATA- The Humboldt State women's basketball team has clinched a berth to the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. The Jacks will travel again this weekend to San Francisco and Monterey Bay in hopes to move up in the standings and strengthen their seeding position. The Lumberjacks are coming off tough back-to-back losses on the road against Cal Poly Pomona (74-59) and Cal State San Bernardino in overtime (86-84).
Head-to-Head
Humboldt defeated SF State (56-48) earlier in the season but fell to CSU Monterey Bay (72-64), who at that time was undefeated but have since lost two games. HSU trails SF State (26-31) in the all-time series but holds an (9-3) advantage over CSU Monterey Bay.
Lumberjack Notes
Humboldt encountered a roadblock this past week for just the fourth time this season on the road. The Jacks, who entered the road trip with a 5-2-road record, fell to top CCAA teams. “(CSU) San Bernardino is a regionally ranked team,” said HSU head coach Joddie Gleason. “I was really proud of the effort…it was just one of those game,” she added. Humboldt has been seeing a mix-up of players in the starting rotation in hopes to find the best combination. “Our focus is to be playing our best group of people,” said Gleason. “Kayla (Williams) needs to be playing in the starting line-up,” she added. Williams' effort on the road edged the Jacks within two against CSUSB with her career-high 31 points; she added 17 the night before against Cal Poly Pomona. With the back-to-back losses the Lumberjacks know there is still a lot of work to be done with the conference tournament right around the corner. “We will focus on the positive that came out of the week,” said the coach. “On Saturday night (against CSUSB) we executed down the stretch with high points. Rebounding is always our focus and we are going up against SF State this week who is a great rebounding team.”
Opponent's Notes
San Francisco State is fighting for the eighth spot in the CCAA tournament and is currently one game back from Sonoma State for the final spot with four games to play, who they will face on Saturday night. The Gators hold 4-18 (4-14, CCAA) record entering Friday's game. The Gators are coming off back-to-back wins against Dominguez Hills (62-47) and Cal State LA (65-61). SF State is led in scoring by Dominique Hunter who is averaging 12.5 points per game and 11.1 rebounds…Cal State Monterey Bay enters this week with a 20-2(16-2, CCAA) record and second in CCAA standing before they face Sonoma State on Friday night. The Otters do not have any players averaging double-digits in scoring but are led collectively by LaShawn Johnson with 9.4 points, Julie Heurung with 8.8 and Erika Ward with 8.3.
Coach Joddie Gleason
Joddie Gleason enters her seventh season at the helm of the Humboldt State's women's basketball program, after leading the 2009-10 squad to a 20-11 overall record and 14-8 mark in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. Finishing in a tie for fourth place in the conference, the Jacks went on a three-game tear and won the CCAA Tournament and earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It was the team's third NCAA Division II West Regional birth in the last five years and just the fourth in school history. Under Gleason, the Lumberjacks have won more games in the past five years than in any other six-year period and her .603 winning percentage is by far the best in school history. In her six years at HSU, Gleason has amassed a 117-77 overall mark and is 83-54 in league contests (59-36 in the CCAA and 21-15 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference).
Projected Starters
F-#00 Bree Halsey, 6-0, Jr., Fresno
G-#4 Jenna Hamilton, 5-6, Jr., Corona
G-#10 Lisa Petty, 5-11, So., Castro Valley
C-#25 Elle Anderson, 6-1, Fr., Carlton, Ore.
F-#33 Taylor Kilgore, 5-10, Sr., Rocklin
On-the-Air
Every Lumberjack basketball home game and conference road game is broadcast live over the local airways on KATA, 1340 AM, beginning with the pregame show 15 minutes prior to game time. Bicoastal Media Sports Director J.B. Mathers describes the action from Lumberjack Arena and HSU Assistant Athletic Director Dan Pambianco goes on the road with the Jacks. …Audio and video are also streamed live over the Internet through the hsujacks.com web site. The new UStream format allows an interactive chat between listeners during the webcast. The specific URL for access is located at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/humboldt-state-athletics.
Live Stats
All Lumberjack basketball home games can be tracked online by using the Live Stats feature. Real time statistics, momentum tracker and other information are featured on the game viewer. The feature can be found through:
http://livestats.internetconsult.com/humboldt/wbball/index.htm
Gleason's Comments
“We are definitely happy to make the tournament and our focus for these last games will be to finish at the highest spot and battle to get the highest seed.”…”We were running most plays through Kayla…we had advantage at her position and she was making great plays all night.”…”The loss (against CSUSB) was rough and there is no DVD to review the game after the fact.”…”We got some tough calls down the stretch but it is something that we have to overcome when we are on the road.”
