After a weekend visit to the Bay Area for the Cal Poly Humboldt basketball teams, the ‘Jacks women’s team finds themselves just two games out of a spot in the CCAA tournament thanks to their current four-game win streak.

Humboldt got a 59-58 back-and-forth win on Saturday against San Francisco State with senior guard Kaiija Lesane finishing off the Gators with a pair of free throws to extend the ‘Jacks lead to four with just nine seconds to play. The win is Humboldt’s fourth in a row, bumping them to seventh in the CCAA, one spot out of a conference tournament berth.

The win streak was much-needed for the ‘Jacks but they also did take advantage of the weaker part of the CCAA schedule, with the four wins all coming against teams below Humboldt in the conference standings. Over the four ‘Jacks wins, they’ve allowed just 55 points per game. The 55 points per game allowed would rank No. 1 in the CCAA and is 11.7 points per game less than Humboldt has allowed this season.

The ‘Jacks offense has also improved over that span with an average of 63 points per game, just over four points above their season average. On Saturday it was sophomore forward Kyori Lloyd who did the heavy-lifting for the ‘Jacks offense, scoring a game-high 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Lloyd’s production has skyrocketed during the Humboldt win streak, with Lloyd putting up 19.25 points and 10.75 rebounds in the past four games compared to her season averages of 10.7 and 6.5.

Lesane was the only other Humboldt player in double-figures with 12 points but it was all the ‘Jacks needed to hold on for the win in a game that had ten lead changes. The difference in the game Saturday was free throws, with the ‘Jacks going 15-18 from the line while San Francisco State went just 4-10 in a game where neither team’s offense excelled.

Humboldt’s men’s team never found their footing against San Francisco State in their 81-67 loss on Saturday. The ‘Jacks were right with the Gators for the first 15 minutes, trailing just 28-27 with 4:59 to play in the first half before San Francisco ended the half on a 14-5 run to lead by ten at halftime.

The start of the second half was as bad as the end of the first half with Humboldt trailing by as much as 23 in the second half before the ‘Jacks went on a 9-2 in the game’s last 88 seconds to whittle it down to just a 14-point defeat.

Humboldt turned the ball over 21 times which led to 26 points in transition for the Gators. San Francisco also got much more contributions from their bench, with 26 bench points compared to only seven from the ‘Jacks.

It was a good overall game for the San Francisco State offense, shooting 50% from the field and getting 40 points in the paint (12 more than Humboldt) and hit nine threes while shooting 36% from three.

Freshman guard Aidan Fowler led Humboldt with 17 points with sophomore guard Rob Diaz III right behind with 16. Humboldt had only nine assists to continue a troubling trend; the ‘Jacks have the third fewest assists and the third most turnovers. That trend could cost the ‘Jacks come CCAA tournament time; even with the loss, Humboldt still sits in fourth place of the CCAA with only four conference games remaining.

The ‘Jacks will stay on the road with two games in Southern California this week. The team will face Cal State San Marcos on Thursday and Cal State Los Angeles on Saturday before returning home for two home games to close out the conference season next week.

Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526.