ARCATA, Calif. – Following a 70-57 win on Saturday against CCAA opponent Cal State San Bernardino, Humboldt State's women's basketball team will take to the road again this week for two conference contests. The squad makes trips to Seaside to take on Cal State Monterey Bay Thursday and to Pomona to match up against Cal Poly Pomona on Saturday.
The result from Saturday took HSU's overall record to 2-5. The team snapped a three-game losing skid with the San Bernardino victory, and now has a 1-1 conference record in looking to continue the positive trend this weekend.
Regarding the outcome of the San Bernardino game, Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said, "There's no question, obviously, a road win in conference is not easy to come by. So I thought our team, in particular on the defensive end as far as executing our game plan, did really well. We were a little bit sloppy on the offensive end; in a situation where I thought we could've stretched our lead we made some careless mistakes, and that we definitely need to clean up. But overall, I'm really pleased with the outcome. "
Tyla Turner led the Jacks with 22 points in the San Bernardino game, and has been driving the squad so far with 16.6 points per game on the season.
"I think it just gave us confidence that we can beat quality teams," said Lumberjack forward Isamar Conde. "The Western Oregon game was really close and we played really hard (the Jacks fell 64-62) and we came up short. But we gave that same energy and focus in the San Bernardino game and we came up with the win, which was good to see."
"I've said it before, I'm a big believer in playing tough competition in the non-conference," said Bento-Jackson. "And I really believe in making our non-conference schedule as tough as it could be, and we did that. With the West Region challenge and Seattle Pacific and Western Washington, then right after Chico we went to Concordia and Western Oregon, we've seen a lot in our non-conference games and that all was on the road."
This marks the Jacks' last road trip for an extended period, as they will host games for the following two weekends in Lumberjack Arena.
"As a coach, the one thing that's been discomforting to me is that we just haven't had a lot of quality practices," said Bento-Jackson. "We've been playing so many games in a short period of time and with the travel, obviously, we have to manage things intelligently with the team in terms of not running them down. Yesterday was a short practice, as we had our film session, but what we could do is focus on ourselves, which we will continue to do today."
She made mention of the fact that Monterey Bay will bring a balance of inside and outside scoring, and said that they are tough at home. The Otters will bring in a record of 3-4 and are coming off a 64-58 win over Sonoma State.
Asked what she thought would be the difference in bringing home a victory Thursday, Conde said, "Honestly, it will be our defense. As coach always emphasizes, defense will win the game. I think we need to focus on our rotations, and knowing who their go-to player is and slowing them down."
"As much as we'd like our overall record to be different, I wouldn't have changed anything as far as who we scheduled in the non-conference," said Bento-Jackson. "I think, again, that putting us on the road builds some character in your team and hopefully builds some toughness in us. We have to be a good road team to have success in this conference."
