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The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Chico State's independent student newspaper

The Orion

Home-court advantage

Published 2009-12-02T00:00:00Z”/>

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Walter Ford

The Chico State women’s basketball team started the holiday break by sweeping its first three opponents of the year and the men’s team finished the week by splitting its first two games.

The 37th annual Coslet Classic kicked off the women’s season Nov. 20 in Acker Gym and the men followed a week later with the 50th annual Mac Martin Invitational.

The women dominated their tournament, grabbing two easy wins, a most valuable player award and two All-Tournament selections.

Synchro Bull took home Most Valuable Player honors by averaging 12 points per game and five assists per game during the tournament. She also ran the point on a defense that suffocated its opponents.

“Synchro’s defense set the tone and did a good job of disrupting their offense,” said head coach Brian Fogel. “She played with a lot of poise and confidence.”

The women’s team handled its first opponent, Notre Dame de Namur 70-41, setting the pace for a three-game winning streak in five days.

The Argonauts came out strong and were able to match the Wildcats’ intensity for the first 12 minutes. The score eventually drew even at 16 but Chico State’s pressure defense and up-tempo offense began to break down the Argonauts as Chico State finished the half on a 19-2 run.

Notre Dame de Namur could only muster 23 points in the second half as the Wildcats cruised to a 70-41 victory to open their regular season.

Melissa Richardson led all scorers with 17 points on 6-13 shots from the field. She also grabbed four rebounds and had four assists.

Eastern Washington University transfer Pauline Ferrall had 16 points and eight rebounds in her Wildcat debut helping Chico State win the rebounding battle 44-34.

The Wildcats finished the tournament the following night with another rout defeating the Texas A&’M International Dustdevils 79-65.

Bouncing back from an eight-turnover performance in game one, Natasha Smith scored seven points in the first two minutes and finished with eight assists for the Wildcats.

Chico State jumped out to a 9-0 start and led wire to wire.

The Dustdevils would pull to within six early in the second half but quick baskets by Richardson and Bull sparked an 11-0 scoring run ending any thoughts of a comeback.

Bull scored 15 points and had six assists while not turning the ball over all game. Bull finished the tournament with one turnover in 55 minutes played.Richardson matched her output from the previous night with 17 points and was named to the All-Tournament team.

A bright spot for the Dustdevils was Erika Rosas. She scored 15 points in the losing effort but wowed the crowd by hitting long threes.

Though the Dustdevils lost both games over the weekend, head coach David Beaver said he was happy for the experience.

“Chico is a NCAA tournament caliber team and that’s what I’m using for my girls,” Beaver said. “We got blown out to start and were able to fight back but we were just unable to get over the hump and that’s what we’ve got to learn &- not to dig holes like that against good teams.”

Chico State and Sonoma State both finished the Tournament 2-0, splitting the tournament championship.

Though the tournament was over, the women still protected home court Nov. 24 against Dominican University winning 79-64.

Ferrall led all scorers with 20 and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Chico State.

The men’s team followed suit Friday as it protected home court in its first game of the Mac Martin Tournament, beating the Lewis &’ Clark College Pioneers 74-62.

The loss was the fifth to start the season for the Pioneers but their four-guard offense posed problems for the much taller Wildcats.

Chico State head coach Greg Clink brought in size in the offseason and, for the most part, they stayed on the bench.

“Matchup problems kept the likes of Seals and Conrad on the bench but I thought Terrence and Hawkins did a great job down low,” Clink said.

One of only two returning Wildcat starters from a year ago, Roderick Hawkins came off the bench and matched career highs in points with 14 and rebounds with 10.

Hawkins was the only Chico State member to be named to the All-Tournament team.

Because of the Pioneers’ athletic four-guard system, Chico State had to play a smaller lineup for most of the game.

Starting point guard Jay Flores played 39 of the 40 minutes for the Wildcats gathering 11 points and eight assists.

Redshirt freshman guard Damario Sims played major minutes off the bench in his Chico State debut and didn’t disappoint as the speedy guard scored 13 points on 5-9 shooting.

Sims said he likes playing with extra guards on the floor.

“I’m always looking for a shot and they are always creating one for me,” Sims said.

The first half was tight as both teams struggled offensively to a 29-26 Chico State advantage.

The Wildcats opened the second half on a tear with a 26-12 run over a 10-minute span to separate themselves from the Pioneers.

Chico State shot 50.9 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from downtown.

“Everyday we’re in the gym getting in extra shots, so it’s no surprise we shot so well,” Sims said.

First-year transfer Terrence Pellum finished with 14 points and Jon Baird had 13 points as the Wildcats finished with five players in double figures.

The offensive diversity will be something other teams will have to contend with, Clink said.

“Last year we would only see one or two guys in double figures,” he said. “This year we will have a balanced attack.”

Unfortunately, the Wildcats slipped back to their old ways one night later as only one Wildcat reached double figures against the No. 24 Seattle Pacific University Falcons Saturday night.

Pellum led the lackluster Wildcat offense with 10 points as they could only score 44 against a quicker Falcon team that beat the Wildcats by 21 points.

The Mac Martin Invitational Most Valuable Player honor went to Seattle Pacific’s Brandon Larrieu who scored 13 points on Chico State and 32 points the night before against Sonoma State.

Seattle Pacific was the only team to leave the tournament with wins on both nights giving the tournament title to them.

The men’s and women’s teams hit the road to visit San Francisco State and start their league schedules Friday.

Walter Ford can be reached at<a href= “javascript:void(location.href=’mailto:’+String.fromCharCode(119,102,111,114,100,64,116,104,101,111,114,105,111,110,46,99,111,109)+’?subject=re%3A%20Home-court%20advantage’)”>[email protected]</a>

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