FULLERTON, Calif. –Freshman forward Kelsey Moos poured in 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds helping the Arizona State Sun Devils defeat Cal State Fullerton 81-55 Saturday night at Titan Gym.
Chante Miles recorded her ninth double-digit scoring performance of the season, as she scored 16 points, while dishing out four assists. The Compton, Calif., native did most of her scoring from the free throw line as she connected on 10-of-11 attempts from the charity stripe. Fullerton (1-8) also got a great performance from junior forward Kathleen Iwuoha as she added a career high 15 points and eight rebounds on the night.
Arizona State (9-1) was led by Moos, who scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half, while also grabbing seven rebounds. Freshman forward Sophie Brunner added 13 points and redshirt sophomore Katie Hempen scored 11 points in the win.
The Sun Devils jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but Hailey King and Chante Miles each added a basket to cut the Arizona State lead down to one. After pulling within one, Arizona State extended its lead back up to seven, 15-8, with 12:03 remaining after Hempen knocked down a pair of three-pointers.
The Sun Devils continued to have their way with the Titans in the first half and stretched their lead to as many as 13, but a 10-2 Fullerton run cut the Sun Devil lead down to five with 3:26 left in the half. Arizona State closed the half on a 6-0 run and headed into intermission leading 33-22.
The Titans and Sun Devils both shot 41 percent in the first half, but Arizona State connected on (6-for-10) three-pointers compared to Fullerton's two (2-for-11).
In the second half the Titans and Sun Devils traded baskets for the opening portion, but the Devils quickly gained a sizable lead after shooting 59 percent from the field. Arizona State led by as many as 28 in the second half and only allowed the Titans to cut their lead down to 10.
After shooting a combined five free throws in the first half between the two teams, the majority of the second half points came from the free throw line as both teams were in the double bonus for over 12 minutes. The Titans shot 24 second half free throws (19-for-24) while the Sun Devils attempted 14, converting on 11 of them.
The Titans finished the night shooting 34 percent from the field and 11 percent (2-of-19) from three-point range. Arizona State had the hot-hand shooting 50 percent from the floor and an impressive 58 percent (11-of-19) from behind the arc.
The Titans will return to action next Saturday, December 21 at 6 p.m. as they take on the Seattle Redhawks at Titan Gym.
Notes: The Titans are now 6-12 all-time against the Sun Devils…the Sun Devils have now won the past four meetings versus Fullerton and have won the past seven of 11 games… today's contest was the 19th meeting between the two programs… this was the first meeting between the two schools since 2011… the Titans are now 4-4 all-time against the Sun Devils at Titan Gym… Cal State Fullerton is now 56-75 all-time against Pac-12 conference foes… Tailer Butler made her first start of the season for the Titans… Chante Miles shot career-high 11 free throws, which breaks her previous career high of 10, which she set versus San Francisco on November 17, 2012… Miles has scored double-digit figures in all nine games this season... Kathleen Iwuoha tied a career high 15 points, which she previously set on March 15, 2013 versus Pacific.
Coach Daron Park
"This has been a real challenging stretch of games for this young team. With a new staff trying to implement a new way of doing things, and there is a silver lining there somewhere. I love the way we fight, I love the way we battle teams that are bigger, stronger, faster, quicker, it doesn't matter to this team they fight. I really appreciate that about them, and you saw that tonight. They battled against a very big, physical, quick, good, talented team from the PAC-12.
Chante Miles
"I feel like I played hard, and I feel like I did what I needed to help our team try to win tonight. That doesn't mean scoring, it means like boxing out trying to do little things to help our team try and win."