RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Down by 16 points with nearly eight minutes left in regulation, the Cal State Fullerton Titans women's basketball team rallied back to take the game to overtime and won 82-78 in extras against UC Riverside on Thursday evening at the SRC Arena.
The Titans won their fifth game in a row as they improved to 13-9 overall and 9-3 in conference play.
Cristina Jones had a monster double-double and almost got a triple down after scoring 24 points, pulled down a career high 19 rebounds, and also had 8 steals.
Maddy Tauro scored a career high 22 points and also had five rebounds and five steals.
Jana Falsdottir had 12 points and Talia Mawell had 10 points. The Titans shot 47.1% (33-for-70) from the floor. They outrebounded the Highlanders 46-to-31. They had 21 steals and forced 23 turnovers for the game.
After both sides traded baskets early in the game, the Titans went on a 6-0 run to open an early 12-6 lead. The Titans stretched the lead to as high as eight points before the Highlanders scored a late basket to make it a 16-10 game after the end of the first quarter.
The Highlanders flipped the script on the Titans in the second quarter as they outscored them 25-to-13.
After the Titans went up 20-15 early in the second quarter. The Titans were assessed a technical foul after a jersey mishap. The Highlanders found momentum from that and made three consecutive free throws and the ensuing basket to tie the game at 20-20.
The Highlanders scored seven straight points before a
Dylan Swindle trey cut the Highlanders run. The Highlanders stretched their lead to seven points before
Jana Falsdottir made consecutive baskets to cut the lead down to three points. However, the Highlanders took a 6-point lead into halftime at 35-29.
Out of the halftime break, the Titans comeback effort was on as they cut a Highlander lead from 11 points to 3 points (48-45) with 2:46 left in the quarter.
However, the Highlanders went on a 11-0 run to finish the quarter and led 59-45 through three quarters.
The Titans turned up their defensive intensity in the fourth quarter as they outscored UCR 27-to-13 for the quarter. Riverside took a 65-49 lead behind two three pointers with 7:54 left in regulation. The Titans went on a 14-0 scoring run over the next four minutes to make it a 65-63 game with 4:05 left.
The Titans took the lead with 2:29 left in the game after
Jana Falsdottir hit her second three pointer of the game to make it a 68-67 game.
Maddy Tauro made a jumper to give the Titans a 3-point lead with 1:09 left in regulation (72-69).
The Highlanders got one point back after making 1-of-2 free throws down their end. The Titans missed a couple layups and two free throws to allow UCR the ball down by two. Hannah Wickstrom made a layup with six seconds left to tie the game at 72-72.
Cristina Jones almost did it for the third time this season with a buzzer beater but the ball didn't leave her hands in time to send the game to overtime.
In overtime, UCR score the first basket before the Titans took a 3-point lead at 77-74. Both sides continued to trade baskets before the Titans were sent to the free throw line a couple times late in the period. They went 1-for-4 on two different occasions but the Highlanders couldn't make a basket down their end.
Cristina Jones got redemption at the end when she iced the game with two free throws to give the Titans an 82-78 lead and put away the Highlanders.
The Titans head to Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday for their first match-up of the season. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. at the Icardo Center.
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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