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Former Big 5 MVP Jadence Clifton enjoyed a successful return to the North Coast on Thursday night, helping to lead the Chico State women’s basketball team to a comfortable victory over her former team, Cal Poly Humboldt, at Lumberjack Arena.

The Wildcats won the game 77-59 and will now advance to next week’s playoffs.

Clifton is a former Del Norte Warrior who played one season for the Cal Poly women’s team.

And she was clearly ready to go on Thursday, while playing in front of an estimated fan base of 60 who showed up to support the local standout.

The junior guard started for the just the fourth time this season and matched her season-high in points with 12.

Both of her season highs have come in the past three games.

She also had a co-team high seven rebounds and a game-high three steals, the latter of which also was a season-best, while playing a season-high 27 minutes.

The win sees the Wildcats close out the regular season with a record of 20-8, which was their first 20-win regular season since the 2012-13 season.

The Chico women were guaranteed to finish second in the final California Collegiate Athletic Association standings regardless of Thursday’s result and have received the No. 2 seed for next week’s conference tournament.

They will play the winner of the No. 3 vs. No. 6 matchup between Cal Poly Pomona and Sonoma State at San Bernardino next Friday at noon.

Clifton becomes the second former H-DNL player to play in a CCAA tournament for Chico State this school year, following in the footsteps of former Eureka Logger Klayre Barres, who has enjoyed three big seasons playing for the school’s women’s soccer team.

Clifton was named co-MVP of the Big 5 after her junior season at Del Norte in 2019/20, along with Fortuna’s Charlotte Carroll.

File photo – Jadence Clifton was named Big 5 MVP as a junior at Del Norte.

Her senior season for the Crescent City school was cut short due to COVID-19, but she still set a school record for most career points with the program.

After graduating high school, she played one season at Cal Poly Humboldt before transferring to Academy of Art.

She joined the Wildcats this past offseason and the move has been a good one for the former Del Norte Warrior, who is now getting set for her first collegiate postseason.

She has played a significant role off the bench for the Chico women since joining the program and is averaging six points and 3.1 rebounds a game.

Emilia Long scored a game-high 22 points for the Lumberjacks in Thursday’s loss and also had a game-high eight rebounds.

The Humboldt women closed out the season with an overall record of 12-14 (10-12 in conference) and saw their bid for a tournament spot fade with five losses in their final seven games.