BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -Â After playing some of their best basketball in the fourth quarter over the past couple games, the Titans were finally able to use it to complete a fourth quarter comeback 68-63 win at Cal State Bakersfield on Thursday night at the Icardo Center.
The Titans outscored the Roadrunners 22-to-11 in the final frame as they won their first Big West game of the season. The Titans began the fourth quarter trailing by eight points as Bakersfield continued to lead after a slow third quarter for the Titans. The Titans defense held the Roadrunners scoreless for over five minutes after a Roadrunners layup with 8:40 left in the game that made it a 51-43 game. The Titans erased the 8-point lead as they went on a 16-0 run to take a 57-51 lead over Bakersfield before the Roadrunners would score another point. With 1:05 left in the game and the Titans leading 58-54, the Roadrunners resorted to the foul game which ultimately undid the Titans at CSUN a weeks ago. The game plan was working in Bakersfield's favor as the Titans went just 3-for-10 from the charity stripe during the final minute, but the Roadrunners weren't able to hit their shots down the stretch.  After the Titans missed a pair of free throws with :12 seconds left and the lead just 61-58,
Layla Davis came up with a huge offensive rebound and made both of her free throws to ice the game and hand the Titans the win.
Aaliyah Stanton led the Titans with 18 points. Â
Emily Strachan had 11 points and
Layla Davis had 10 points and 7 rebounds. The Roadrunners shot better than the Titans for the game (42.3%) vs (35.0%).  The Titans went 19-for-30 at the free throw line.  The Roadrunners outrebounded the Titans 39-to-36 for the game but the Titans had 14 offensive bounds to the Roadrunners 8.  The Titans only committed 9 turnovers while Bakersfield committed 24 for the game. Â
Cal State Bakersfield scored the first basket of the game before
Madelynn Muniz made a layup and a 3-pointer to put the Titans ahead in the first quarter.
The Titans led 18-to-15 after the first quarter.
The Titans and Roadrunners continued to trade baskets in the second quarter. Â
Aaliyah Stanton made a layup to give the Titans a five point lead at 28-23 with 6:05 left in the second quarter. Â
The Titans held onto a one point lead against the Roadrunners at halftime with the score 34-to-33.Â
The Titans went cold in the third quarter and were outscored 14-to-7. Â After an
Aixchel Hernandez jumper to make it a 36-35 game, the Roadrunners went on a 9-0 run to take a 44-36 lead. Â
The Titans got some momentum back at the of the third quarter after
Maddy Tauro made a jumper and Stanton made two free thwos to bring it down a 47-41 game after three quarters.
The Roadrunners made two layups at the start of the fourth quarter and led 51-43 with 8:40 left. Â The Titans then begin chipping away at the lead and eventually overtook the Roadrunners after
Layla Davis made back to back follow up putbacks.
The Roadrunners refused to go away and made it a three-point game three separate times during the final three minutes as the Titans couldn't bury their opponent by knocking down their free throws. Â However,
Layla Davis came up with the biggest rebound of her Titan career as she got an offensive rebound on a missed free throw with 12 seconds left and made her two free throws to complete the win for the Titans.
The Titans will remain on the road as they head to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday. Â Tip-off is set for 4:00 p.m. at the Thunderdome.
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