LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Titans mounted a furious fourth quarter comeback, but Taylor Turney's shot at the buzzer was blocked, and Fullerton fell to Long Beach State 49-52 on Wednesday night at the Walter Pyramid. The Beach used their size and a harassing defense to hold the Titans well under their scoring average of 69 points.
Going into the game the Titans (16-12, 8-7 BWC) were in a second-place tie with Hawai'i, and owned the tiebreaker by virtue of Fullerton's earlier win over league-leading UC Davis. Scoreboard watchers will be keeping an eye on the Rainbow Wahine's game with UC Santa Barbara taking place later tonight in Oah'u.
Taylor Turney led the Titans with 19 points and four assists. Raina Perez was the focus of the Beach's defensive efforts all night, yet still managed to score 16 points and gather four rebounds. Carolyn Gill led Fullerton on the boards, hauling down 11.
Both teams played hard-nosed defense for 40 minutes. As a result, Fullerton could only manage a field goal percentage of 32.6% from the floor, while holding Long Beach to 29.6%. Fullerton shot an impressive 17-21 (81%) from the charity stripe, while Long Beach was more effective from 3-point range, knocking down seven treys to Fullerton's two. The Titans were also outrebounded by the Beach 25-38.
On Saturday, March 7, the Titans will return to historic Titan Gym for a 5:00 p.m. match-up with UC Irvine. Saturday's game is part of a basketball doubleheader with the men, who will host Long Beach State at 7:30 p.m. Saturday is also Women's Empowerment Night, and the final regular season home game of the year.
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