Photo by Max Tepper/Cal Poly Humboldt old Athletics – Emilia Long matched her season-high with 23 points on Thursday night.

The Cal Poly Humboldt women’s basketball team got off to a fast start on Thursday night and held on to beat San Francisco State 69-65 at Lumberjack Arena.

The Jacks outscored the visitors 29-7 in the opening quarter and got a much-needed win despite being outscored in each of the following three quarters.

With the victory, the Humboldt women improved to 7-7 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and 9-9 overall and they remain in a six-way tie for fourth in the conference standings and well in contention for the conference tournament.

San Francisco cut the deficit to one point with 24 seconds remaining, but the Cal Poly women would seal the victory thanks to some clutch late free throws.

“We are definitely happy to come away with the win tonight, however, there are many things that we must learn and fix immediately,” head coach Michelle Bento-Jackson said. “We were playing undisciplined at times and that’s on me.

“Fortunately, we knocked down free throws at the end otherwise it could have been a different outcome. Every night is going to be a battle and everyone is fighting to be playing in March. We must be more consistent.”

Emilia Long matched her season-high with 23 points and shot 61.5 percent.

The two-sport standout, who also plays soccer for the Jacks, added nine rebounds, five assists and four steals to cap an impressive all-around game.

The Cal Poly men were also involved in a close game, but fell 62-60 to San Francisco later in the evening.

The Jacks led 28-22 at halftime but got outscored 40-32 after the interval.

Humboldt’s Kareem Clark finished with his first double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and pulling down 11 rebounds.

Former Arcata Tiger Brandon Bento-Jackson, who is the son of the women’s head coach, returned to the starting lineup for the first time in six games and scored 10 points in the loss.

With the loss, the struggling Jacks dropped to 1-13 in conference and 4-15 on the season.

Both Humboldt teams will be back in action on Saturday when they host Cal State East Bay.

The women tip off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men at 7:30 p.m.

Photo by Elliot Portillo/Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics – Brandon Bento-Jackson