Turlock - In an important game as the CCAA season nears the halfway point, the Chico State Wildcats pulled out a 77-75 overtime victory over the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors in a rare Wednesday night contest.  With the loss, the Warriors drop to 8-8, 3-6 (CCAA) while the Wildcats improve to 9-7, 5-4 (CCAA).

Gwen Page led the Warriors with 18 points and 11 rebounds.  Christin Gowan chipped in with a season high 17 points, Katie Busi added 12 and Antwinette Turner tied a season best with 11 points.

After falling behind by 10 at the half, the Warriors used a strong second half performance to go up by five points with just over six minutes left in regulation.  However, over the final six minutes the Warriors committed four turnovers and went just 2-for-6 from the free throw line and the Wildcats tied it up at 69 apiece. 

Turnovers and free throws haunted the Warriors all night and in overtime they turned it over three more times and missed two crucial free throws with just 23 seconds left.  This led to the game winning layup by Renee Goldoff, who led all scorers with 21 points, with just 2 seconds remaining.  The Warriors were able to throw up a shot near half court at the buzzer, but it was not to be.

On the night the Warriors turned the ball over 26 times compared to the Wildcats 17.  They also went cold from the foul line.  After hitting 12 of 12 in the first half, the Warriors made just eight of 17 attempts in the second half and overtime, including two misses with 18 seconds left in regulation and two misses with 23 seconds left in overtime, both times it would have given the Warriors the lead.

Goldoff was superb for the Wildcats going 7-10 from the field and 7-7 from the line for her 21 points and Melissa Richardson added 16 points.

The Warriors will travel to La Jolla on Friday to take on the first place UC San Diego Tritons.  They return home Jan. 30 to take on Cal State Monterey Bay.

Box Score