Another shot of hope came the Chico State women’s basketball team’s way in the form of the NCAA Division II regional rankings, in which the Wildcats moved up a spot to No. 9 in the West Region; the top eight teams advance to the tournament.

At 12-9 and 11-9 in regional play, Chico State has the most losses of any of the top 10 teams in the running, but has a healthy shot to get in based on the teams that remain. Four of the teams ahead of the Wildcats are CCAA teams, and Chico State will see three of them again. Coming up immediatley is No. 6 Humboldt State (14-6), which already fell to the Wildcats at Acker Gym in their first meeting.

At No. 5 is Cal Poly Pomona, which lost to Chico State last weekend for a season series split, and certainly the Wildcats will look for help in the form of losses from the Broncos. They have Cal State San Bernardino tonight, and that team looks terrible, but their other game this week is against No. 2 and CCAA-leading UC San Diego, which also plays Humboldt State later in the season and would undoubtedly help the Wildcats by beating the Lumberjacks.

If it’s too confusing, consider Chico State’s remaining schedule: This week, Sonoma State and Humboldt State; next week, Cal State L.A. and Cal State Dominguez Hills; they’ll follow up at home against Cal State Stanislaus and UC San Diego. You can look at at least four of those as very conceivable wins. A win over the Toros (assuming wins against everyone else but the Tritons) has to get them in, in my estimation. You hate to see that whole “controlling destiny” phrase, but it applies here.