San Luis Obispo, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team earned an important road victory over Cal Poly at Mott Athletics Center on Thursday night, 74-60, behind Chante Miles' career-high 36 points.
Miles could do no wrong in the first 10 minutes of the game on Thursday night, shooting 5-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from beyond the three-point line to give the Titans the early 15-10 lead over the Mustangs. The Compton, Calif. native continued her white-hot shooting as she finished with 22 points in the first half, shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 6-of-8 from behind the arc.
Despite the outrageous numbers from their senior point guard in the first half, the rest of the Fullerton team struggled on the offensive end. Excluding Miles, the Titans shot 4-of-23 from the field and 1-of-12 from deep. The pressure continued to mount for Fullerton in the final 10 minutes of the half as Miles was held scoreless after pouring in 22 points through the first 10 minutes. The Mustangs were able to hang around just enough as two teams went into the halftime break tied at 33-33.
Taryn Garza led the Mustangs effort on the offensive end in the first half, scoring 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field. Garza also grabbed 2 rebounds in her 20 minutes on the floor. A trio of Mustangs ended the first 20 minutes with five points apiece as Ariana Elegado, Kristen Ale and Hannah Gilbert all pitched in to keep pace with Miles and the Titans.
After surrendering the opening layup of the half to the Mustangs to hand them a 35-33 lead, the Titans recaptured the lead and never relinquished it the rest of the way. Senior Tailer Butler, who struggled in the first half, scored the opening seven points for the Titans to get herself going on the offensive end. After starting the game 1-of-8 from three-point territory, Butler finished with a crucial 14 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Titans.
As they have so many times this season, Fullerton dominated the glass on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The Titans earned their advantage in the first half, out rebounding Cal Poly 20 to 14 through the first 20 minutes, and closed out the game in the final frame by coming down with 22 boards to the Mustangs 19 to seal the victory.
Kathleen Iwuoha, who extended her streak of scoring in double figures to eight-straight games, gave the Titans an important 32 minutes on the floor, scoring 11 points and dominating down low by grabbing 9 rebounds.
Sophomore Samantha Logan was leader in the rebounding department Thursday night, however, coming down with a game-high 11 rebounds. Logan and Iwuoha were two big reasons for the Titans victory tonight as CSF came away with 18 second-chance points and only allowed the Mustangs to put in seven points on their second-chance opportunities.
Miles cooled off from the torrid pace she set in the opening 10 minutes, but did enough to set a new career-high in points scored in the win with 36. Her previous career high was set earlier this season in another road win, 70-68, at Weber State on Nov. 24 when she poured in 35 points.
The Titans (10-14, 4-7) earned their second road win of the season and ended their five-game losing streak in the process. They shot 34 percent (21-of-62) from the field and 28 percent (9-of-32) from deep. The Mustangs drop to 12-12 overall and 7-5 in the tightly contested Big West Conference. In the loss Cal Poly shot 32 percent (19-of-59) from the field and 21 percent (4-of-19) from behind the arc.
"I'm really proud of the effort and toughness we showed from start to finish tonight to get this big road win," head coach Daron Park said. "We tweaked a couple things in yesterday's practice that really paid off big tonight. That's a credit to our team for being focused in on the scouting report and the game plan. They earned this win tonight!"
Fullerton will look to make it two-straight Big West Conference wins as they continue on the road to UC Santa Barbara on Saturday to take on the Gauchos at 2:00 p.m. at The Thunderdome.
Notes: The Titans improve their all-time record against Cal Poly to 27-24 overall…Chante Miles extended her career-high streak of scoring in double figures to 22-straight games with 36 points on Thursday night at Mott Athletics Center…Miles has now scored 20 or more points in 12 games this season, and has eclipsed the 30 point plateau four times…Chante Miles continues her climb up the Fullerton all-time scorers list, she still sits in 10th place overall with 1,339 points in her Titan career….She is now 43 points shy of Charlee Underwood (1,382 points) for 9th on the all-time list…The Titans all-time record against Big West Conference opponents moves to 206-251…Fullerton and Cal Poly split the season series for the second-straight season after each team won on the road this year.
