Chico State’s women’s basketball set a new tone in their game against Humboldt, winning by 12 points. Whitney Branham who leads the conference in free throw shooting percentage scored 31 points that gave the Wildcat’s a 70–58 win in the California Collegiate Athletic Association opener against Humboldt State Saturday night at Lumberjack Arena.

Branham set the pace in the game, who scored 10 of Chico State’s first 11 points. She finished 11-for-15 from the field and 7-for-10 from the 3-point range.

More notable athletes are Kayla Taylor who pitched in nine points, six rebounds, and three assists for Chico State. Madison Wong hit a number of free throws to seal the win and finished with eight points and four assists. Freshman Hannah Washington surprised the audience at home and ESPN3 by finishing with six points, seven rebounds, and two steals.

This game was no walk in the park for Chico State. The Wildcats outscored the Lumberjacks in each quarter, shooting 53.5 percent from the field and 58.8 percent from three in the game. However, Chico had too many open, uncontested looks and the shooters weren’t forced to stray from their comfort zone shooting the basketball from Humboldt’s defense. With 6:21 left in the fourth quarter, the Jacks were down by four points, however, Chico increased the intensity of the game and shut them down.

The Wildcats in the PacWest Challenge is currently 1-2, narrowly losing their first two games against Dominican University of California and Notre Dame De Namur University. Their next game is a home game against The Holy Names, who is 0-5. This game will test the Wildcats fitness and camaraderie in their home opener Wednesday night at 5:30 in Acker Gym.

Marco Day can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_sports on Twitter.