Feb. 25, 2010

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FULLERTON, CA - Cal State Fullerton junior Lynsdey Grove scored the go-ahead basket with 1:11 to play and the Titans finished the game on a 13-0 run over the final three minutes to help lift them to a 70-63 "senior night" victory over first-place Cal Poly on Thursday night at Titan Gym.

The victory improved Fullerton to 13-15 overall and evened its Big West Conference record at 7-7 with two games left to play in the regular season. The Mustangs, who entered the night with a half-game lead over second-place UC Davis, fell to 17-9 overall and 10-4 in league play.

Sophomore Megan Richardson led the Titans with 19 points and seven rebounds on the night while senior Jasmine Scott, playing in the final home game of her career, finished with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting and eight rebounds.

Cal Poly's Kristina Santiago led all players with 29 points - 19 of those in the first half alone - and 14 rebounds, hitting on 13-of-23 from the field while playing all 40 minutes. No other Mustang made more than three baskets on the night as Becky Tratter was second on the team with eight points.

The Mustangs built their largest lead of the game at eight points with just over six minutes to play thanks to a 7-0 run after the Titans had closed to within a single point at 51-50 with 8:19 to play.

Fullerton remained steady, slowly chipping away on baskets by Alicya Crisp and Richardson and getting free throws from Katie Avila and Lyndsey Grove to close to within three points with 3:19 to play.

After a basket by Ashlee Stewart put Cal Poly back up by six with 2:58 to play, the Fullerton offense turned it up as Britt Peters hit a three pointer and a short jumper on back-to-back possessions to start the Titans' closing run and Grove scored her only basket of the game inside on a sequence that featured three offensive rebounds to give Fullerton the lead for good.

Grove then hit a pair of free throws to build the Titans lead to three points with 28 seconds remaining, setting up the Mustangs for the last shot. However, Ashlee Burns' three-point attempt from the left corner ricocheted off the side of the backboard and the Titans' got two free throws each from Peters and Scott in the final 16 seconds to ice the game.

The game was tight throughout with neither team leading by more than six points. Cal Poly led for most of the first half before a three-pointer from Richardson gave the Titans their first lead of the night as part of an 11-3 run, staking Fullerton a 25-22 advantage with 5:45 left in the first.

The two teams would trade baskets for the rest of the half with four lead changes and two ties in the final 4:22 before Crisp hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Titans the 35-32 lead at halftime.

Both teams shot just over 37 percent for the game while Cal State Fullerton held a 49-41 advantage on the boards for the game. Cal Poly, which entered the night leading the conference in three-point shooting at .389, hit just 3-of-12 from long range and was just 8-of-17 from the line.

The Titans, conversely, hit 7-of-16 from three-point range and 19-of-26 from the line as the Mustangs were whistled for 23 fouls to just 12 for Fullerton.

The race for Big West Conference Tournament seeding concludes next week on the road for the Titans, who travel north to take on Pacific on Thursday (March 4) and UC Davis on Saturday (March 6). Both contests are scheduled to tip at 7 p.m. from their respective sites.