Some attaboys on the Warner corner this week, as Darroll Phillips picked up California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Week for his 3-point-laden pair of games at the Mac Martin Tournament. He went for 26 and 32, and helped Chico State men's basketball team grab its first wins of the year.

On the women's side, Molly Goodenbour & Co. made a seismic shift from No. 15 in Division II to No. 8, undoubtedly aided by a 4-0 start and a victory over the previous No. 4 team, West Texas A&M. Weirdly enough, Chicoans won't get to see this product anytime soon, as the women don't play a home game until Dec. 28 against St. Cloud State.
Note: I stand corrected here by Luke Reid of Chico State SID, who reminds me of my incapability to interpret a schedule: "That game on Dec. 28 is actually in Rohnert Park at Sonoma State's tournament. The Wildcats won't be home until they play Cal State Monterey Bay Jan. 4."

The fact that I don't get paid to do this makes it only slightly more palatable.

Both teams will begin their conference schedules Wednesday, though, with a road trip through Cal State Stanislaus and then to UC San Diego. The Warrior women are 1-3, while the Wildcat-nemesis Tritons have raced to a 5-0 start; for the men, Cal State Stanislaus is 1-3 and UC San Diego is winless at 0-2.

I won't lie; I'm chomping at the bit a little to stop using horse-related clichés, as well as to see how the women fare against the No. 4 Tritons on Saturday. UC San Diego, if you'll remember, was the team that came to Chico in last year's tournament and booted the Wildcats from it rather convincingly. Will it be a statement game? It counts for conference, so I'm going to say yes, and I think it's fair to say Chico State would say the same. Then again, Goodenbour doesn't take any of them as anything less. She doesn't have the No. 8 team in the country for nothing.