Box Score TURLOCK — The new Warriors have arrived in the CCAA. Cal State Stanislaus opened the conference season with an exciting 71-68 win over No. 6 Chico State Tuesday night at Fitzpatrick Arena.

The win over the defending CCAA champion Chico State, which was also picked to repeat as winners in the coaches' preseason poll, is certainly the biggest victory in program history in a long time.

With tenacious defense and balanced scoring, the Warriors improved to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association after the win.

"It's a signature win for our program and for the young girls. We just beat the number six team in the country so that's nuts and they earned it," head coach Wayman Strickland said. "That was a hard fought game and we were in it from the beginning and we held it out at the end. It was nice to see and I'm very proud of the young women. They did a great job."

Jasmine Washington led the Warriors with 16 points, Riley Holladay had 12 while the Godde sisters — Lauren and Erin — each added 10. Lauren Godde also pulled a team-best seven rebounds with Washington and Ana Burch each with six boards. Washignton also had three assists and two blocked shots. Burch had five assists and four steals. Holladay had three steals as well.

Chico State was held without a field goal -- and only four free throws -- in the final five and a half minutes. In that same time, Stanislaus scored 13 points -- six from Washington.

Statistically, all things were pretty much equal across the board in a contest that could have been lopsided based on the teams' pedigree. One was coming off a two-win season the other the defending conference champions ranked No. 6 in the nation in the newest WBCA Top 25 poll released just earlier on Tuesday.

However, one glaring stat most certainly contributed to the Warriors' upset. Cal State Stanislaus forced 26 Chico State turnovers — many of them became baskets for the Warriors. It also allowed Stanislaus to take 10 more shots.

Every time Chico State (4-1, 0-1 CCAA) tried to get ahead, the Stanislaus defense would tighten up and forced Wildcat mistakes.

The Warriors turned an 8-point Chico State lead early in the second half into just an one-point advantage within a four-minute window that was capped off by an Ana Burch steal and layup to make it 42-41 with 14:07 to play. After a Courtney Hamilton bucket, Briana Cotton would tie the game with a three-pointer.

Chico State would again pull ahead by eight three minutes later, but Stanislaus turned it into a two-point slim margin on a 6-0 run that included two Wildcat turnovers and two easy Warrior layups with 8:09 to play.

The Wildcats regained the lead and went up by seven at 5:13 to play, but a 7-0 Stanislaus spurt tied the game again after a pair of Lauren Godde free throws.

Then, two Washington free throws and a layup gave the Warriors a 3-point lead with 81 seconds remaining. The Warriors would used two offensive rebounds in the final seconds and a couple of Erin Godde free throws to seal the upset.

"We are 4-0 with a conference win under our belt and I'm really proud and happy for the team," Strickland added. "Our coaching staff does a wonderful job and our players do a wonderful job of executing the game plan. It came out with a win tonight."

Chico State was led by McKenzie Dalthorp with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Cal State Stanislaus moved to 4-0 for the time since the 2008-09 team did so before going on to 6-1.