After two 10-16 seasons, Chico State women’s basketball seems to be trending in the right direction again. The Wildcats are currently 14-8 overall with a 9-3 record at home and are currently in 7th place in the CCAA. They could have a chance to go to the CCAA postseason tournament for the first time in three years depending on the outcome of their next four games.

A lot of the teams success can be attributed to the defense. Opponents only score an average of 58.4 points per game, good for second in the entire conference. They are also second in assist-to turnover ratio, which is crucial to winning games.

Junior guard, Whitney Branham is also have a top player in . She is currently the third lading scorer in the entire CCAA, averaging 15 points per game on 40 percent shooting. She is also averaging 4 rebounds and 1.4 steals a game. She has started every game since her arrival at Chico State and has improved every year.

The difference between the last two seasons and this one is that she now has a supporting cast that helps to take some of the pressure of of her. Even though their second leading scorer went down to injury a few weeks ago, other ‘Cats have stepped up in their place. Junior forward Kayla Taylor has averaged 12 points per game since Paine’s injury. Sophomore forward Mckena Barker has stepped her average up to 8.3 points per game as well.

The ‘Cats have 2 back to back games coming up on the 16th and 18th against a tough Stanislaus State team, and then only two more until the postseason tournament. The team is hoping to win these next few games and head into the postseason strong.

With a clear leader and a solid supporting cast, the ‘Cats have built a solid foundation that they should be able to build upon in the next couple of years,

Patrick Pace can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_sports on Twitter.