ARCATA, Calif. – The Humboldt State women's basketball team will host a pair of CCAA games at Lumberjack Arena beginning Thursday night, as they seek to recapture the mojo that saw them forge a seven-game winning streak earlier in the season.

The Jacks welcome Cal Poly Pomona into town on Thursday night, and then face off against Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday evening. Both contests have a 5:30 p.m. tip time.

HSU is coming off a difficult weekend that saw them fall at UC San Diego on Friday night via two last-second free throws, 64-63, and then suffer a defeat at the hands of Cal State San Marcos on Saturday night, 68-63. The results ran the Jacks' record on the season to 8-7, 7-3 in conference.

The San Diego contest pitted what were the top two teams in the CCAA against each other, with the Tritons undefeated in conference and the Jacks at 7-1 in league play. Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said, "It was a battle, just as we expected it to be, and it came down to the wire. In that last 20 seconds, I thought our team did everything we needed to do as far as executing on the defensive end, and unfortunately we came up short and they got two free throws. It was definitely a heartbreaker to say the least; we put ourselves in a position to win the game and just didn't finish it off."

With a tough 24-hour turnaround before their next game, the Jacks, in the words of Bento-Jackson, were "emotionally drained and exhausted," heading into the San Marcos game.

Heading into this weekend, Bento-Jackson sees reason for optimism: "I feel like we've been much sharper in these last couple practices, and getting back to what we were doing before."

Pomona comes in with an overall mark of 10-4 and 7-2 against CCAA opponents, while San Bernardino brings a record of 6-8, 4-6 in conference play.

In preparation for Pomona's arrival, Bento-Jackson said she expects to see a matchup zone from the Broncos defensively and good balance on the offensive end, with both solid post play and some accomplished shooters with the potential to penetrate outside.

Bento-Jackson emphasized the need for the team to execute its game plan defensively against Pomona and offensively, she wants to make sure her team gets good shot selection and is aggressive off the dribble.  

Despite this past weekend's results, the coach was complimentary of her squad's effort in general over the course of the season, especially on the defensive end, saying, "I've been very, very proud and pleased with the team as far as how we've executed the game plan, and it's won us games. We have to learn from that [this past weekend], and I think we're doing so this week in practice. We're just getting back to the Humboldt State women's basketball way in terms of how we need to play defense in order to be successful."