FULLERTON, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's basketball team scored a season high over the conference leaders in UC Santa Barbara in a 80-67 victory at Titan Gym on Saturday night.
The Titans moved to 7-10 overall for the season and 3-4 in Big West Conference play. The Titans had a season low 5 turnovers in the game against the Gauchos. The Titans shot above 50% for just the second time this season after going 30-for-56 from the floor. The Titans had three players in double figures in scoring.
Ashlee Lewis led the Titans with her second double-double of the season. Lewis had 18 points on 9-for-10 shooting along with 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.
Fujika Nimmo had 14 points along with six assists. Nimmo shot 4-for-6 from the floor and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the charity stripe.
Hope Hassmann had 15 points along with two rebounds and two assists. The Titans were able to convert on 15 Gaucho turnovers to 18 points. The Titans outscored the Gauchos 36-to-24 on points inside the paint.
In the first quarter, UCSB took an early 12-4 lead before the Titans closed out the quarter strong. The Titans went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 14-14 with Hassmann hitting a tough jumper and a layup to lead the charge.
Eva Levingston hit a fadeaway jump shot to kickstart the Titans offense once again. The Titans led 22-19 after the first period of play.
In the second quarter,
Demonnie Lagway started off the quarter with a tough jump shot inside the paint. The Gauchos then scored 8 straight points to regain the lead over the Titans.
The Titans tied the game at 30-30 after a
Fujika Nimmo midrange shot. The Titans scored nine straight points to build a 39-30 lead after a corner three from Levingston and baskets by
Allysan Tse, Nimmo, and Lewis.
The Gauchos responded with four points of their own before the Titans finished the quarter with a layup by Lewis and a jump shot by Nimmo to put the Titans on top 43-39 at halftime.
The Titans stretched their lead up to 17 points at 58-41 with 4:32 left in the quarter.
However the Gauchos responded with a run of their own by going on a 12-0 run in the final 3:40 minutes of the quarter to make it a 60-53 ballgame after the end of three.
In the fourth quarter, the Titans built their lead back to 10 points after layups by
Kathryn Neff and
Aixchel Hernandez with 8:14 left. However, the Gauchos slowly kept chipping away at the Titans lead and brought it down to 3 points at 70-63 with 3:32 left. However, the Titans held the Gauchos scoreless over the final three minutes while adding 10 points of their own.
Hope Hassmann hit a big jumper with 3:04 left to put the Titans up five points.
Ashlee Lewis followed up with a layup to act as the dagger.
Hope Hassmann and Fujika went a perfect 6-for-6 in free throws in the final minute to preserve the win over the Gauchos.
The Titans will stay at home as they take on the Cal Poly Mustangs on Thursday. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.
SUPPORT THE TITANS!
Fans can purchase tickets for various Cal State Fullerton athletic events by visiting FullertonTitanstickets.com. The Athletic Ticket Office can also be contacted by phone at 657-278-2783 or by email at athletictixs@fullerton.edu.
WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch every home event exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN quality production for all games at Titan Stadium. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN quality streams which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.
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Fans can keep up with the latest in Titan Athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook/FullertonTitans), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans). In addition, the men's basketball team has established its own Twitter (@FullertonWBB) and Instagram accounts (@FullertonWBB)
