ARCATA – In a month full of away games, Humboldt State gets a break from life on the road to host two California Collegiate Athletic Association games in hopes of continuing an undefeated home streak. The Jacks will first take on a close competitor, No. 11-ranked Cal Poly Pomona, on Thursday, before facing San Francisco State on Saturday. Both games have tipoff times of 5:30 p.m. in Lumberjack Arena.
"We enjoy playing at home," said head coach
Joddie Gleason. "Our atmosphere here is fun and there is so much excitement that our players feed off of. We're happy to be home and tend to be more comfortable playing here. Everyone usually shoots better at home."
The Broncos are just a game behind HSU, standing at 9-2 overall, 5-2 in CCAA action—Humboldt State is 10-2 overall and 6-2 against conference opponents. The Gators have struggled to find their footing this season, suffering a string of losses to stand at 2-11 overall, 1-6 in conference action.
Head-to-Head
Cal Poly Pomona and Humboldt State have continued to battle to gain the upper hand in the overall series with both teams claiming six victories. The Broncos swept both games against the Jacks last year, including a 61-47 win at Lumberjack Arena.
San Francisco State has four games over the Jacks to put the Gators 31-27 over HSU in the overall series. Last year, the Jacks beat SFSU 56-48 in overtime at home and claimed a close 66-65 victory on the road to complete the sweep.
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Lumberjack Notes
Humboldt State enters this week's games with an undefeated record at home (5-0) for the 2011-12 season. The Jacks remain in the top spots over other CCAA teams in field goal percentage defense (.367), three-point field goal percentage defense (.215) and three-point field goal percentage (.349). Collectively, the Jacks have continued to stay toward the top in other defensive efforts, such as steals—averaging 10.5 steals per game to put them in second—as well as overall scoring defense, limiting opponents to 57.2 points per game.
After a bad shooting night against Cal State L.A., the Jacks redeemed themselves against Cal State Dominguez Hills to pull away with a split on the road—a tough feat in the CCAA. As a team, Humboldt State averages 66.5 ppg, led by
Lisa Petty's 13.5 ppg. Petty scored a season-high 22 points against the Toros, needing just one more three-pointer to tie her career best at HSU.
Caitie Richards isn't far behind Petty, averaging 11.5 ppg, and leads the team in shooting from beyond the arc, finishing 22-of-57 three-pointers for .386 percent.
Whitney Howard leads the CCAA with a .589 field goal shooting percentage, completing 31-of-53 shots from inside the arc. Howard has finished with double figures in all but three games for the Jacks.
"Our main focus is always on getting high percentage shots," said Gleason. "We need to cut down on turnovers. We want to get the ball to scorers in positions where they can be successful."
Kayla Willams is one of the players making that happen as she continues to dish out assists for Humboldt State by finding the open players. Williams averages 4.5 assists per game to put her in the No. 2 spot on the CCAA leader board.
Patrice Saindon has been a key piece in transitioning into offense for the Jacks, averaging 2.6 steals per game to put her just under the top spot among her fellow CCAA opponents.
Bronco Notes
Cal Poly Pomona stands at the No. 11 spot in the NCAA Div. II rankings as of 1/3/12. The Broncos have the second-best scoring defense in the CCAA, limiting their opponents to just 55.3 points per game. CPP averages 65.7 ppg offensively, and ranks second in both field goal percentage (.416) and three-point field goal percentage (.347). Two of the Broncos' top three scorers play in the post position, doing double duty for Cal Poly Pomona, led by Megan Ford. Ford leads her team in scoring, averaging 14.7 ppg (17.9 ppg against CCAA opponents) along with 10.2 rebounds per game (first in the CCAA). Ariel Marsh leads the Broncos in shooting from beyond the arc with a .448-percent to put her in the No. 2-spot amongst conference leaders.
Gator Notes
San Francisco State enters the weekend's games against Sonoma State and Humboldt State looking for its first road victory to snap a five-game losing streak. The Gators come off a 64-39 loss against Cal State East Bay, but are capable of giving teams a run for their money. SFSU challenged Chico State and only lost by five points on the road. Cal State Monterey Bay saw its 22-point halftime lead drop to just eight points, losing 64-56. Nicole Hicks leads the Gators in scoring, averaging 11.2 ppg. Lauren Varney and Farrah Shokoor split the rebounding effort for SFSU, averaging 6.2 rpg and 6.1 rpg, respectively.
Gleason's Gabs
"Cal Poly Pomona is a top tier team in the conference and nationally ranked for a reason. They're multidimensional. You can't just focus on their two posts because their guard play is strong too. We need the whole team's effort defending and forcing them to take tough shots." ... "San Francisco State is very defensive oriented. They work really hard and are always solid. They can rebound very well and force you to execute well because they force so many turnovers. It's always a battle when we play them." ... "We didn't take care of the ball [against CSULA] as well as we had before the break. It's an area we need to focus on and clean up again."
