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ARCATA, Calif. – After holding on to its No. 10 spot atop the D2SIDA West Region poll this past week, the Humboldt State women's basketball team prepares for a heated rivalry game against Chico State Saturday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. inside Art Acker Gymnasium.

The Lumberjacks (11-6, 9-5 CCAA) extended their winning streak to five straight after defeating Cal State San Marcos last Thursday, but they saw that streak come to an abrupt end after dropping a back-and-forth battle to nationally-ranked UC San Diego, 61-72. Alexia Thrower (16.5 points per game) and Isa Conde (15.3 points per game) are the No. 3 and 5 most efficient scorers, respectively, in the conferencing creating a formidable offensive duo. Tyra Turner leads the team with 84 assists and currently holds the best assist/turnover ratio in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, while her 2.6 steals per game rank second.

The last time these two teams met, the Wildcats stole a 62-61 victory thanks in part to six consecutive missed free throws from the Jacks. HSU led by five at the start of the fourth period but misses at the charity stripe were all Chico State needed to mount a comeback. Shay Stark sank a pair of free throws with two seconds remaining as the Wildcats held on for the victory.

"The last time we played Chico, I thought we executed our defensive game plan really well," said Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson. "We put ourselves in position to win the game and, unfortunately, we just didn't finish it. Hopefully, we are a different team now from the standpoint that we've progressed and are executing better on both ends of the floor, but Chico is going to be better also. We know each other very well, and I expect it to be a tight ballgame. We know what kind of environment we will be going into, and we just have to have a great week of practice and be prepared for a very good team."

Chico State is currently 12-5 overall with a 9-5 record in conference play and holds a half-game lead over the Jacks in the CCAA standings. The Wildcats split a pair of games last week as they lost to UC San Diego before ending their weekend with a victory over Cal State San Marcos. Stark and Madison Wong will look to get Chico State going offensively as they lead the team with 11.7 and 11.6 points per game, respectively. Forward McKena Barker is a presence down low and averages 10.8 boards per game which is good for fourth-best in the conference.