FULLERTON, Calif. – Junior Daeja Smith puts up her second double-double of the season and joins a group of elites, but Fullerton drops their second consecutive game, 68-47, to open up the Lady Griz Classic.
Smith was the biggest performer of the night putting up 17 points and 11 rebounds, both of which were game highs. In the third quarter she pulled down her tenth rebound giving her 400 for her career. She joins an elite club as just the 27th different Titan to have 500 career points and 400 career rebounds in the program's history. Junior Hannah Thompson was the only other Fullerton player to reach double-figures with 14 points. The next highest scorer was junior Jade Vega who put up seven points in the loss.
The Griz also only had two players reach double-figures led by sophomore Hailey Nicholson's 16 points. She also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Redshirt sophomore Taylor Goligoski was the other double-digit scorer for Montana with 11 points while redshirt sophomore McKenzie Johnston put up nine points.
Fullerton struggled from the tip-off as a Smith layup in the final minute was the only bucket the Titans made the entire first quarter. As a team, they shot 1-16 (6.3%) from the field and 0-3 from the free throw line. They came out of the first trailing 19-2.
Montana ran away with the game in the second quarter as the Titans continued to shoot poorly. On 3-14 (21.4%) shooting and 4-8 from the line, CSF only scored 11 points in the quarter while UM shot almost 50% to extend their lead to 26 points going into the break.
The Titans came out of the half looking much better. Led by H. Thompson's 12 points on 4-5 (80%) from beyond the arc, they shot 50% from the field and outscored the Griz for the quarter. However, fouls haunted CSF most of the night, especially in the third as Montana had 13 free throw attempts, making 10 of them.
Fullerton went into the final quarter trailing by 24 points, desperately needing a rally. However, UM had an answer for each shot they made and CSF couldn't bring the game any closer than 20 points, resulting in their second-consecutive 20-point defeat.
The Titans are back in action tomorrow night for their second and final game of the Lady Griz Classic as they face off against Oral Roberts at 5:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. PT).
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