Chico State women’s basketball came into Acker Gymnasium against California State University East Bay looking to extend a two-game win streak. Extend they did, beating Cal State East Bay 78-59, riding a career high of 26 points from junior guard Madison Wong.

“It was a team effort, it was good team win,” Wong said. “I don’t think it’s hit me yet because that’s my career high. I think it just feels good to be in this environment again at Acker Gym. With the fire and everything that happened when we were supposed to have our home game, it just feels good. I think this weekend was important for establishing momentum for the rest of the season.”

This was a game that Chico State dominated from the start and never surrendered the lead. With this win the Wildcats are now 6-1 on the season and 3-1 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association. These two teams were the top two in defense coming into tonight, Cal State East Bay had held all their opponents to under 60 points all season, but that didn’t matter for the surging Wildcats.

Aside from Wong’s big night there were other notable Wildcats that contributed to the win: Natalie Valenzuela added 17 points and McKena Barker had eight of her own, along with eight rebounds and three assists. Shay Stark lead the team with five assists and was a big contributor on defense by keeping the Wildcats pace intact with her floor spacing.

“I wanted to find other ways, other than scoring, to help my teammates, “Stark said. “Defense was one of them, doing my job on who I was guarding. Just getting us moving, getting the flow and closing out the game.”

The defense held East Bay to 30.4 percent shooting and 14.3 percent from three. The Wildcats in contrast shot 48.1 percent and 50 percent from three, it was an all-around team effort.

“I am pleased with the way we are competing right now,” Head coach Brian Fogel said. “I fee like our defense is getting better. Our transition game is very strong. We still turn the ball over a little bit too much and I know we can do a lot better from the foul line. We got a long way to go, it’s only December. Seven games in, I feel very happy with where we are at.”

Chico State travels to Arcata next Saturday, to take on the Humboldt State Lumberjacks (6-2, 4-1 CCAA). Tip off will be at 5:30 p.m. and you can watch from the Chico State women’s schedule page.

Ricardo Tovar can be reached at [email protected] or @rtovarg13 on Twitter.