BIG WEST RELEASE

IRVINE, Calif. - It was announced by the conference on Tuesday that sophomore Cristina Jones of the Titans women's basketball team was named the Co-Hustle Player of the Year along with Makayla Rose of UC San Diego.  Jones also garnered two more honors as she was named to the All-Big West First Team and All-Defensive Team.  Kya Pearson earned an Honorable Mention and Nicole Steiner was named to the All-Freshman Team.

Cristina Jones had a record setting season in her first year with the Titans after following John Bonner from the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros.  Jones led the team in scoring with 454 points after averaging 16.2 points per game.  Jones is fourth in the conference in scoring.  Jones is the second in the conference in rebounding at 9.8 rebounds per game and 265 rebounds.  Jones led the conference and was third in the country with 4.9 offensive boards per game and fifth in the country with 134 offensive rebounds.  Jones set the program record with her current 106 steals in a single season, besting the record set by Dee Braxton (98) set during the 1996-97 season. Jones is currently 7th in the country with 106 steals and fifth in the country with a 3.79 steals per game average.  She led the Big West in steals and steals per game.  Jones led the team with nine double-doubles on the year. She had the 5th and 6th 20/20 performance in program history after getting 35 points and 20 rebounds against Bakersfield on February 7th.  She later achieved that feat on February 21st against Bakersfield with a 21 point 21 rebound performance.  It had been 26 years since the last 20/20 performance in program history and Jones did it twice within two weeks.  Jones became the third player ever and second individual to be named the Big West Hustle Player of the Year.  Carolyn Gill earned the award twice during the 2019-20 and 2021-22 season. Jones became the second player ever to be named to the All-Big West Defensive team after Carolyn Gill in 2019-20.  She became the 12th individual to be named to the All-Big West First Team and the first since Raina Perez during the 2019-20 season.  Jones also earned the first Player of the Week award since Gabi Vidmar won on December 18th 2023 after Jones was named the Big West Player of the Week on December 29th, 2025.



Kya Pearson was named a Big West Honorable Mention during her final season of collegiate basketball after following John Bonner from Cal State Dominguez Hills.  Kya Pearson was fourth on the team in scoring after averaging 8.1 points per game and scoring 242 points.  Pearson excelled defensively as she was second on the team with 79 steals and fourth in the conference with 2.6 steals per game.  Her 79 steals in a single season is the sixth best in program history.  Pearson led the team with 97 assists and was 9th in the conference averaging 3.2 assists per game. Pearson became the 20th individual in program history to be named to the All-Big West Honorable Mention team.



Nicole Steiner was named to the All-Big West Freshman team.  Pearson became the 20th individual in program history to be named to the All-Big West Honorable Mention team. She became the 25th individual in program history to be named to the All-Freshman team. Steiner was second on the team in scoring average at 10.5 points per game and second in rebounding at 7.4 rebounds per game.  She was third among freshmen in scoring behind Charish Thompson of Cal Poly (14.2) and Bailey Flavell of Hawai'i (12.5).  Steiner missed seven games and nearly weeks of action due to a lower leg injury midway through the season. Steiner was second in the conference in offensive rebounding per game at 4.1 behind Cristina Jones.  If she played enough games to be eligible to count towards the nation's lead, Steiner would be tied for 8th in the country at offensive rebounds per game.



The Titans finished the regular season with a 17-13 overall record and a 13-7 record in conference play and earned the 5th seed in the Big West Championship.  This is just the second winning season since the 1990-91 season and the most conference wins since the 1990-91 season as well.  The Titans take on the No. 8 Matadors in the first round of the Big West Championship on Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. at the Lee's Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada. The winner of that will take on the No. 4 University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine on Thursday at 12:00 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), X (@FullertonTitans) Instagram (@FullertonTitans). In addition, the women's basketball team has established its own X (@FullertonWBB) and Instagram accounts (@FullertonWBB)