Titans Roll By Highlanders in Big West Tournament First Round

Titans Roll By Highlanders in Big West Tournament First Round

Box Score (PDF)

FULLERTON, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team won its opening game of the Big West Tournament at Titan Gym on Tuesday night, 71-59, over UC Riverside behind Chante Miles' 26 points and Kathleen Iwuoha's 17-point, 11-rebound double double.

Miles was the engine for the Titan offense all night, shooting 5-of-15 from the field and draining 3-of-6 from behind the arc.  The senior from Compton, Calif. scored 20 or more points for the 14th time this season and finished the evening with five rebounds and eight assists to go with her game-high point total.

Iwuoha quietly poured in 17 points on an efficient 5-of-7 from the field while hitting 7-of-11 free-throw attempts.  It was another big night on the glass on both ends of the floor for the senior forward, pulling down seven defensive and four offensive rebounds in her 38 minutes on the floor.

Both teams came out of the gate shooting at a high rate, scoring 20 points in the first six minutes of action.  In that span to start the game the Highlanders and Titans put up a combined 21 shots as UCR jumped out to the early lead 11-9.

The Highlanders then went on a 12-3 run, sparked by two buckets from Annelise Ito that provided some breathing room heading into the last 10 minutes of the half.  The Titans did not shy away in front of their home crowd, however, as Miles and Tailer Butler led the Titans right back within striking distance at 24-27 with 2:50 to play in the opening frame.

The Titans added five more unanswered points to end the half, taking a 29-27 lead over the Highlanders into the break.  Miles led the Titans offense with 14 points (3-of-9 FG, 3-of-5 3FG) and Simone DeCoud led the Highlanders with seven points (3-of-6 FG, 1-of-4 3FG).  Fullerton shot 28 percent (7-of-25) in the first 20 minutes compared to UCR's 40 percent (12-of-30).

The Titans continued to stretch their lead in the opening minutes of the second half by staying hot from behind the arc as Miles and Logan both drained back-to-back trey's to stretch the Titan lead to 39-31 with 17:18 left in the game.

The Titans maintained a comfortable distance the rest of the way, giving up their double digit lead just a few times as time continued to run out on the Highlanders.  With 2:57 left to play Iwuoha hit a free throw that gave the Titans their largest lead of the game, 69-51, and Fullerton continued to hit its remaining free throws to ice the game.

Newly crowned Big West Player of the Year, and the leading scorer in the conference this year, Brittany Crain, was held to just nine points on the night with all of the defensive work on her being done by the senior Butler.  The Los Angeles, Calif. native played the full 40 minutes and contributed 15 points to go along with her air-tight defensive effort.

Logan finished the game with 10 rebounds and just missed her first double double of the season by one point, pouring in nine points on 3-of-7 from the field.

The Titans will be back at Titan Gym for the final time in 2014-15 in a Big West Tournament Quarterfinal matchup with Cal Poly at 6:00 p.m.  The first 100 Cal State Fullerton students to arrive at the game tomorrow will receive free admission and a spirit pack courtesy of the Cal State Fullerton Alumni Association.

Notes:  Cal State Fullerton moves to 24-24 all time against UC Riverside…The Titans improve their all-time record against Big West Conference Opponents to 207-255…This was the first Big West Tournament win for second-year Head Coach Daron Park as the Titans lost in the first round to Long Beach State a year ago…CSF improves to 17-25 all time in Big West Tournament action…The Titans have won at least one game in six of the last nine Big West Conference Tournaments they have participated in…With the win tonight, the Titans improve to 2-3 against UC Riverside in Big West Tournament play.

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