Jan. 9, 2006
FULLERTON, CA -
Cal State Fullerton junior Charlee Underwood scored a team-high 21 points and the host Titans withstood a late Pacific charge as Fullerton emerged with a 72-64 victory on Monday night in a Big West Conference women's basketball contest at Titan Gym.
Fullerton (4-10 overall, 2-2 in Big West play) won back-to-back games for the first time this season and the first time since winning three in a row to close out the 2004-05 regular season. The win for the Titans was their fourth straight at Titan Gym this season after falling in their home opener to San Diego back on Dec. 1.
Pacific fell to 4-10 overall, 1-2 in conference play.
The Titans led by 16 points at the break, 42-26, but it was the Tigers who came out firing to start the second half, opening the period on a 13-3 run to pull to within six points at 45-39 just over four minutes in.
Cal State Fullerton regained a 12-point advantage with just over 11 minutes left, but the Titans' offense went cold, held scoreless for almost six minutes as the Tigers took advantage.
Pacific exploded for a 12-2 run to close to within two points at 59-57 with 4:18 remaining and, after trading baskets, tied the game at 61 on a lay-up by Kelsey Lavender with 2:36 remaining.
Fullerton's Amber Pruitt and Pacific's Tina Sanerivi traded lay-ups to keep the score tied at 63 before the Titans pulled away.
Junior India McDaniel hit a pair of free throws with 1:51 remaining to give Fullerton the lead, but the Tigers had their chances. Pacific missed on its next two trips down the court while the Titans' offense went through the hands of junior Andrea Adams, who scored the final seven points of the game - including an NBA-range three-pointer with two seconds left on the shot clock - to ice the victory.
Underwood notched her second consecutive 20-point game after scoring 22 points in a win over Cal State Northridge on Jan. 7 and narrowly missed a double-double with nine rebounds. She was joined in double figures by Andrea Adams, who finished with 17 points off the bench, and Pruitt, who finished with 11 points.
Pacific was led by Carolina Ruiz's game-high 26 points and 11 rebounds - 17 of those points coming in the first half. Lavender added 12 points while Sanerivi finished with 11 points.
The Tigers shot 47 percent from the floor overall for the game, including a 56 percent clip in the second half. The Titans shot just 37 percent overall after hitting on 44 percent in the first half.
Fullerton was again strong on the boards, outrebounding its fourth consecutive opponent by a 39-38 margin. Pacific was done in by 26 turnovers which led to 28 points for the Titans.
After playing four games in the span of a week, things slow down drastically for Cal State Fullerton as it will face only UC Riverside on Saturday (Jan. 14) at 2 p.m. at Titan Gym to complete a three-game homestand.