SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's basketball team completed the series sweep over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday after taking down the Gauchos 78-65 at the Thunderdome. The Titans impressively led the entire game over the Gauchos.
The Titans improved to 10-18 overall and 6-12 in conference play. The Titans moved to a 1.5 games above Cal State Bakersfield and remain in 9th place overall in the Big West standings. The Titans however are technically in the eighth and final position for the Big West Tournament due to UC San Diego's inability to compete in the tournament during the final year of their reclassification.
The Titans had five players in double figures against the Gauchos.
Demonnie Lagway scored a new career high with 15 points on 6-for-13 shooting.
Eva Levingston scored a career high with 13 points.
Gabi Vidmar scored 13 points and
Aixchel Hernandez scored a season high 13 points.
Hope Hassmann scored 10 points as well. The Titans shot a very efficient 52.8% from the floor (28-for-53) and went 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and 18-for-22 from the charity stripe. The Titans held the Gauchos to 38.2% shooting and forced them to commit 17 turnovers. The Gauchos shot 9-for-30 from beyond the arc and 14-for-20 from the free throw line.
The Titans had a very strong first quarter against the Gauchos after taking a commanding 13-point lead (19-6) over the Gauchos to start the game. The Titans scored the first basket of the game with Ashlee Leiws making a jumper. The Titans got two baskets from
Demonnie Lagway,
Aixchel Hernandez, and
Gabi Vidmar and led 10-2 at the media timeout in the first.
Hernandez scored the next five points of the period and the Titans got two layups from
Hope Hassmann and
Gabi Vidmar to close the quarter.
The second quarter was the only quarter where the Gauchos outscored the Titans. The Titans led by 13 after a layup by
Fujika Nimmo to put the Titans on top 22-to-9.
The Gauchos cut the lead to seven points a couple times but the Titans were able to prevent them from further damage after two jumpers by
Demonnie Lagway.
The Gauchos cut the lead to five points with 2:09 left but
Brielle Minor was able to convert two free throws before the period ended to make it 35-28 before halftime.
Gabi Vidmar made the first basket of the second half with a three-pointer in the third to put the Titans back up by ten (38-28).
The Gauchos cut the lead to six points before the Titans got six points back from Levingston and Lagway to restore the double-digit lead.
Hope Hassmann and
Eva Levingston converted on layups to put the Titans on top by 14 points with 2:02 left in the period.
The Titans were able to close out the third quarter with a 12 point lead (54-42) after a jumper from
Allysan Tse.
The Gauchos cut the Titans lead to seven to start the fourth quarter with 7:51 left in the game and the score at 54-47. However, the Titans got five straight points behind a three from Lagway and a layup by Levingston to restore the 12 point advantage.
Levingston converted an and-1 play to give the Titans their biggest lead of the game at 15 points with 4:48 left in the game and the score at 65-50.
The Titans were able to make their free throws down the stretch and prevent the Gauchos from making a comeback to give the Titans the much needed win.
The Titans will head back to Titan Gym for their final home game of the season on Thursday night against UC Riverside. Tip-off is set for 7:00 PM. The Titans will honor their three seniors in a pregame ceremony with
Gabi Vidmar,
Kathryn Neff, and
Fujika Nimmo being honored.
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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