Seattle, Wash. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's basketball team nearly pulled off an upset over the Power 4 University of Washington squad on Thursday afternoon in a narrow 62-58 loss at the Alaskan Airlines Arena.
The Titans (0-5) played their best basketball of the year in the 4-point loss against the Huskies (5-1). Â
With 9.7 seconds left in the game and the Titans inbounding the ball on their side of the court and the score 60-58, the Titans went for the game winning shot.Â
Demonnie Lagway drove to the hoop to set up a game winning shot for
Madelynn Muniz who was on the opposite corner. Muniz's shot bounced off the rim and the Huskies rebounded the ball and made free throws at the other end of the court to seal the game.Â
The Titans who came into the game shooting 32% shot a season best 41% (24-58) from the floor.  The Titans forced 19 turnovers from Washington and had six steals for the game. The Huskies outrebounded the Titans 42-to-25.
With a short bench for Thursday's game, all seven Titans got on the scoresheet. Â The Titans had three players in double figures with
Demonnie Lagway leading the team with 13 points,
Eva Levingston and
Aixchel Hernandez both had seven points.  Elle Ladine led all scorers with 20 points for the Huskies.
The Titans started off the game with a steal and a layup for
Aaliyah Stanton to set the tone for the game
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Both sides continued to trade baskets in the first quarter as the Huskies led 17-15 after the first quarter.
The Titans outscored Washington 22-17 in the second quarter.
Madelynn Muniz led the quarter off with a three-pointer after a blocked shot against the Titans.
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The Titans and Huskies continue to trade blows in the second quarter with the Titans taking the lead by a few points throughout the quarter. Â
Eva Levingston closed the quarter with a fadeaway jumper to put the Titans ahead by 3 at the halftime mark.
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The Titans shot a season high 54% from the floor in the first half. Â (15-for-28) from the floor and a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Washington outscored the Titans 21-to-14 in the third quarter. Â After the Huskies went ahead by 4 points,
Jana Falsdottir drilled her second three-pointer of the game to make it a 1-point game again at 45-44.
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The Huskies biggest lead was six points in the third quarter but the Titans got layups from Levingston and Muniz to close the quarter out only down by four points, 55-51.
In the fourth quarter, the Titans outscored Washington 7-1 to start the quarter behind
Aaliyah Stanton and
Aixchel Hernandez.
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However the Titans went scoreless over the final 6:54 of the quarter. Â The Huskies took a 60-58 lead with 2:01 left. Â The Titans missed on two possessions to tie the game. Â After a missed layup from the Huskies with 12 seconds left,
Eva Levingston rebounded the ball and called timeout to set up the final play for the Titans. Â However, the Titans couldn't pull off the upset over the Huskies on their final shot.
The Titans will remain in the PNW area as they head to Portland State on Sunday. Â Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m. against the Vikings.
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.
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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.Â
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