HENDERSON, NV. - The No.5 Cal State Fullerton Titans women's basketball season came to end on Thursday against the No. 4 University of Hawaii in a 72-61 loss in overtime at the Lee's Family Forum in the Big West Championship Quarterfinals.
Despite the loss, the Titans finished the season 18-14 overall with a 13-7 conference record. This was just the second winning season since the 1990-91 season and the most conference wins since that season as well.
The Titans trailed for most of the game until taking a lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Â They led by five points with 4:41 (57-52) left in regulation but couldn't increase the lead. Â The Rainbow Wahine tied things up with 2:20 left at 57-57 and they took the lead back from the Titans twice. Â The Titans tied the game up twice in the final two minutes and had the ball with 10 seconds left. Â However, they couldn't find the winner in regulation and neither could the Rainbow Wahine. Â The Titans ran out of steam in the fourth quarter as Hawaii outscored them 11-0 in the extra frame.
The Titans hung around for most of the game despite shooting just 26.4% from the floor (19-for-72) while the Rainbow Wahine shot 48.1% (26-for-54). Â The Titans shot six three's and were 40% from the beyond the arc. Â The Titans had a 26-to-18 free throw attempt advantage but the Titans went just 17-for-26 from the line (65.4%).Â
It was a close rebounding battle as Hawaii edged the Titans with a 45-to-44 rebound advantage. Â However, the Titans had 22 offensive boards. Â The Titans had 14 steals and forced 21 turnovers which led to 20 points.
The Titans trailed from the beginning but they made three treys in the first quarter to hang around Hawaii. Hawaii led 20-17 after one.
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Hawaii stretched their lead to nine points with 3 minutes left in the second quarter. Â However,
Lilliana Petersen and
Madelynn Muniz made back to back treys for the Titans to stay within five points. Hawaii took a 36-31 lead into halftime.
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Hawaii scored the first basket of the third quarter on a three pointer to open up an eight point lead. Â The Titans defense went to work and the Titans went on a 8-0 run to tie the game at 39-39.
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Hawaii went on a 10-0 run and led 49-39 with 2:35 left in the third quarter . Â The Titans went on a 8-3 run to close out the quarter with Hawaii leading 52-47.
The fourth quarter started with a bang from
Talia Maxwell who were drilled her second three pointer of the week and made two free throws to tie the game at 52-52.
The Titans got three more pairs of free throws from Maxwell,
Cristina Jones, and
Kya Pearson and went 5-for-6 from the line to give the Titans a 5-point lead.
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However, Hawaii made their comeback with 3:10 left after a three pointer put them down two points. Â The Titans offense went stagnant as they looked to run the clock down and allowed the Rainbow Wahine back into the game.
The Titans had a chance to win the game in regulation but a three point attempt from
Kya Pearson was blocked as was
Cristina Jones put back attempt.
In overtime, the Titans were outscored 11-0 as they had run out of gas to give the higher seed Hawaii a chance against No.1 UCI tomorrow in the semifinals. Â
The Titans are expected to retain the bulk of the season as the bulk of the team were freshman and sophomore students. The Titans had just on senior this year in
Kya Pearson
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