FULLERTON, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team upended No.3 Cal Poly in the quarterfinals of the Big West Conference Tournament at Titan Gym on Wednesday night, 55-48, behind 19 points from Kathleen Iwuoha and 17 points from Tailer Butler.
The senior duo both played the full 40 minutes on Wednesday night, with Butler going the distance for the second-straight night. Butler shot 6-of-13 from the field, including 2-of-7 from three-point territory in the quarterfinal win. Iwuoha poured her game-high 19 points on 5-of-9 from the field and draining 9-of-12 attempts from the foul line.
Both teams started the game slow on the offensive end with only 21 points being scored in the first 10 minutes of the game. The sluggish start for Cal Poly continued through the midway point of the first frame, going without a field goal from 9:38 to 4:36 of the half. During that span, Fullerton scored 11 points to take a 24-13 lead over the Mustangs.
Cal Poly caught fire in the last couple minutes of the half, however, with Taryne Garza and Arianna Elegado sparking an 11-2 run to end the first half down by two points at 26-24. Both teams shot 30 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes of play, with the Titans draining 8-of-26 from the field and the Mustangs shooting 9-of-30.
Iwuoha led the Titans at the halftime break, pouring in 10 points on 3-of-4 from the field and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. With a deep three-pointer to end the scoring in the first half, Elegado was the leading scorer for the Mustangs with eight points on 3-of-5 from the field and 2-of-3 from deep.
After a frantic end to the first half, the Titans came out with poise and extended their two point lead at halftime to 34-28 with 16:57 left to play in the game behind a jumper from Butler and more scoring in the paint by Iwuoha.
Fullerton enjoyed a comfortable lead throughout the next 10 minutes of play as its double digit lead over the Mustangs was maintained for a majority of the final frame. With close to six minutes left in the game, Cal Poly started turning up the heat on the Titan defense and used a 5-0 run to cut the lead back to a manageable seven points.
Another run by the Mustangs starting at the four minute mark put Cal Poly in position to tie the game with just under a minute left in the game. After a defensive rebound on a missed Titan free throwm CP's Elegado an opportunity to tie the game at the offensive end, but her three-point attempt flew wide of the basket and time ran out on the Mustangs season.
The Titans won the battle down low on Wednesday night, outscoring the Mustangs 22-16 on points in the paint. Fullerton also won the turnover battle, causing 16 Mustang turnovers on the night and scoring 15 points on those opportunities.
Fullerton shot 33 percent (16-of-48 FG) for the contest while Cal Poly experienced a difficult time putting the ball in the basket against the tough Titan defense, only shooting 29 percent (18-of-62 FG) for the game.
The Titans advance in the Big West Conference Tournament and will take on top-seeded Hawai'i at 12:00 p.m. on Friday at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Notes: The Titans all-time record against Cal Poly improves to 28-24…Fullerton moves to 18-25 all time in Big West Conference Tournament action…The Titans have won two-straight games for the first time since beating UC Irvine on Jan. 15th for their season-high fourth-straight victory…Fullerton won for the first time this season after shooting less than 40 percent from three-point territory and earned their first win when shooting a lower percentage than their opponent from the three-point line…The Titans went to the free-throw line 28 times in the game against Cal Poly after earning 29 trips to the line in Tuesday's win over UC Riverside, it was the most free-throw attempts in a two-game stretch for the Titans all season…Fullerton lost both matchups with their semifinal opponent, Hawai'i, in regular season action.
