FULLERTON, Calif.- Sophomore guard Malina Hood poured in 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and connected on five three-pointers, as her San Diego Toreros powered past Cal State Fullerton 65-42 Wednesday night at Titan Gym.
Chante Miles recorded her seventh double-digit scoring performance of the season, as she scored 10 points, while dishing out five assists. Junior forward Kathleen Iwuoha led Fullerton (1-6) with 11 points, while grabbing four rebounds. Freshman guard Samantha Logan tallied eight points and eight rebounds on the night.
San Diego (8-0) was led by Hood, who scored 17 of her 19 points in the first half all off the bench. Amy Kane poured in 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting for the Toreros.
Chante Miles got Fullerton on the board in the first minute, but that would be the only advantage the Titans would see all night as the Toreros quickly answered back with a 9-0 run over the next four minutes. The Titans got back-to-back baskets from Miles and Kathleen Iwuoha to pull within three, but the Toreros wouldn't let the Titans come any closer.
San Diego ended the half on a 21-7 run led by sophomore forward Malina Hood's 17 first half points off 6-of-8 shooting, including five three-pointers from behind the arc in the first 20 minutes. With 12 first half turnovers, Fullerton trailed San Diego 42-21 at the half.
The Titans and Toreros came out in the second half trading baskets, but the lead was too much for the Titans to come back from. Fullerton shot 32 percent for the game, but couldn't overcome 20 turnovers as San Diego scored 26 points off the Titan miscues. The Toreros shot 48 percent, while knocking down seven three-pointers compared to two by Fullerton.
The Titans will continue play on the road over the weekend at Iowa State on Sunday, December 8 at 12 p.m. (PT) at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
Notes: The Titans are 7-13 all-time against the Toreros…this was the 20th meeting between the schools and the first meeting in three seasons… San Diego extends their winning streak to seven-games versus Fullerton…the Toreros are off to their best start in school history….Cal State Fullerton is now 38-56 all-time against opponents from the West Coast Conference… the Titans are now 1-3 in the last four meeting against WCC foes…Chante Miles has recorded a double-digit scoring effort in all seven games this season...the 20 turnovers were the most in a game this season by the Titans.
"Obviously tremendously disappointed in all phases tonight. I felt we were outplayed from the opening tip on the offensive and defensive end. San Diego is a very good team and we knew that coming in, and they showed that tonight. They are something we are striving to become, and we schedule these games to try and see where we are at, and where we need to be in our process, and the reality is tonight our process took a step back. But that doesn't change my resolve, that doesn't change who we are or what we believe to be true. We are implanting a standard here at Cal State Fullerton and we will continue to persevere, learn from this and move on and get ready to play an exceptional team this Sunday."
Our strategy was to try and be the more physical team. We knew that San Diego was physical and that they were going to get into you and make you prove that you are basketball players and I don't think we did that tonight, especially in the first half. Defensively, they do a really nice job getting the ball into their big's and do a really nice job getting the ball off the dribble into the paint. We were trying to clog the paint a little bit and cover their shooters, I thought we did a decent job of that, we left a player open a little bit in the first half and she got crazy on us. But, in the second half we did a better job at cleaning it up."
"Sunday is a lot about us. Iowa State is a team ranked in the top 25 in the country, and they are going to be playing in front of 8,000 fans, its not realist to say we can match up with them at any position. But with that being said I love those opportunities and were going to move heaven and earth to show our kids ways that we can try to be successful and its going to help us build for the future. I got so much respect for that program and everything they have accomplished, we don't fear going there, and we are excited for the opportunity and its going to be an unbelievable test for us."
