Photo by Drew Gwerder/Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics

The No. 7 team in the nation will be hoping to avoid the Cal Poly Humboldt women in the postseason.

On Saturday afternoon, the Jacks traveled to play Cal Poly Pomona in basketball and handed the high-flying California Collegiate Athletic Association leaders their second loss in conference play, both of them coming against the Jacks.

The win was the Humboldt women’s sixth straight and followed a 74-69 overtime victory at Cal State San Bernardino on Thursday night.

The Jacks, who qualified for the CCAA Tournament last week, are now 16-4 in conference and 18-8 overall, and they sit third in the standings, two wins clear of Chico State (14-6) in fourth and just wins behind Pomona in first with two games remaining for each team.

Second-placed Cal State Los Angeles is 17-3.

On Saturday, the Jacks started strong against Pomona, outscoring their hosts 27-16 in the opening quarter to set the early tone.

They held a nine-point lead at halftime, but the home team would come storming back after the break, pulling within two points heading into the fourth.

The visitors, however, would hold on down the stretch for a huge three-point win that will give them plenty of momentum heading into the postseason tournament.

Jada Barnes scored a team-high 20 points in the win.

At San Bernardino, Shade Satica etched her name in the Cal Poly Humboldt record book, becoming the program’s all-time single-season steals leader.

With two steals on the night, Satica reached 100 this season, surpassing Trina Dukes’ previous record of 98 set during the 1994-95 campaign. 

Photo by Elliot Portillo/Cal Poly Humboldt Athletics – The Humboldt women celebrate their tournament qualification last weekend.

The Cal Poly Humboldt men, meanwhile, did not fare quite as well this week.

The Jacks lost 80-77 at San Bernardino and fell 74-60 at Pomona, dropping to 11-9 in conference and 13-13 on the season.

The Humboldt men are struggling down the stretch of the season, having dropped five of their last six games, but they remain well in the hunt for a conference tournament berth.

Despite their recent struggles, the Jacks are in a three-way tie for third in the CCAA standings with two games remaining, both at home.

One of the teams they are tied with is Cal State Monterey Bay, which travels to Lumberjack Arena on Thursday night.

Next Saturday, the Jacks close out the regular season against Cal State San Marcos, which is one win back in a tight race for the six tournament berths.

Five teams are within one win of each other in the race for the final four tournament spots.