LA JOLLA, Calif. - The Cal State Fullerton Titans women's basketball team dropped their last road game of the season in a 77-69 loss against UC San Diego at the Liontree Arena.
The Titans fell to 16-13 overall and 12-7 in conference play. The Titans are in fifth place and will look to hold off UC Santa Barbara for that spot. The Titans and Gauchos are both tied with a 12-7 conference record. The Titans play host to CSUN and a win over the Matadors will secure the Titans the fifth place seed. While a loss to the Matadors combined with a Gauchos win in La Jolla would give the Gauchos the fifth place seed. If both sides finish with the same conference record, the Titans hold the first tiebreaker over the Gauchos as they went 2-0 in the head-to-head series.Â
The short handed Titans spread the offense around as
Talia Maxwell led the team with 16 points. Â
Kya Pearson and
Maxine Sutisna in her third career start had 12 points. Â
Nicole Steiner had 10 points.  The Titans shot 38.7% from the floor while the Tritons shot 50.9%.  The Titans had one of their best games from the charity stripe after going 17-for-18 from the line. The Titans won the rebounding battle 36-to-33 and the steals battle 15-to-13. Â
The first quarter was the only quarter with a big scoring advantage in favor of the Tritons as they outscored the Titans 20-to-12 in the first quarter.
Maddy Tauro led the game off with a bucket off the glass before the Tritons scored three straigh baskets.
Maxine Sutisna made a three to keep it close early. Â The Tritons went on a 9-6 run run to close out the first quarter on top 20-12.
The Tritons stretched their lead to 16 points midway through the second quarter before the Titans started coming back. Â The Titans went on a 9-5 scoring to close out the second quarter to make it a 39-29 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, the Tritons took a 19 point lead (52-33) midway through the quarter before the Titans once again came back. Â The Titans went on a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 56-42.
The Tritons got five straight points to make it 61-42 before the Titans finished the third quarter on a 6-0 run behind
Talia Maxwell and
Kya Pearson. Â The Tritons led 61-48 after three quarters.
The Titans outscored the Tritons 21-to-16 in the final frame. The Titans started the fourth quarter on a 8-4 run to cut the lead under 10 points at 65-56.
The Titans cut the lead down to 6 points with 59 seconds left. Â However, that was as close as it would get as the Titans couldn't convert on their final attempts and had to foul UCSD a couple times at the end.
The Titans will close out the regular season at home on Saturday against CSUN as they look to lock in their 5th seed in next week's Big West Championship. Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m. The Titans will hold a pregame ceremony for their lone senior,
Kya Pearson before the game.
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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.Â
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