Jan. 16, 2010
NORTHRIDGE, CA - Cal State Northridge sophomore Jasmine Erving scored a game-high 20 points and led two teammates in double figures to lift the host Matadors to a 66-53 victory over visiting Cal State Fullerton on Saturday night at The Matadome.
After winning four straight, the Titans lost their second in a row, falling to 8-10 overall and 4-2 in Big West Conference play. Cal State Northridge improved to 3-12 overall and won its first Big West game of the season, improving to 1-4.
Junior guard Britt Peters led Fullerton with a team-high 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting to go with six rebounds in the loss. Junior Lyndsey Grove was the only other Titan in double figures, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds, but hit just 2-of-19 from the field before fouling out.
Cal State Fullerton struggled mightily as a team, shooting just 26 percent (20-of-77) from the field with six of those field goals coming from beyond the three-point line. Conversely, Northridge shot just over 43 percent for the game, taking 26 fewer shots, and hit 18-of-27 from the line to the Titans' 7-of-15 from the free throw stripe.
Katrina Thompson (17 points, 14 rebounds) and Bridgette Conejo (12 points) played all 40 minutes and joined Erving in double figures for the Matadors, who have now won three straight against Cal State Fullerton (their longest in the history of the all-time series) after losing five in a row to the Titans from 2007-08.
The Titans came out firing in the first half using a 14-2 run midway through the period to erase a three-point deficit and build a 21-12 lead with 8:33 to play. That lead grew to as many as 16 points at 30-14 three minutes later as Fullerton shot 41 percent in the opening period and carried a 37-26 lead into the locker room at the break.
Things all fell apart for the Titans from there as a three-pointer by Grove to start the second half gave way to a 1-for-11 shooting slump, allowing the Matadors to go on a 13-6 run to cut a 14-point deficit down to just four at 43-39 less than seven minutes into the half.
A three-pointer by Peters snapped Fullerton's funk, but the Titans could not sustain any momentum as Northridge went on another lengthy run, this time a 13-2 spurt, to lead 52-48 and the Matadors never looked back. Northridge shot 50 percent from the floor as a team during its second half rally, holding Fullerton to just 4-of-38 (.105) shooting from the field.
The Titans got no closer than three points on a pair of free throws from Grove with 2:50 to play while the Matadors, who outscored the Titans by a 40-16 count in the second half, staved off any chances of a rally by hitting 10-of-16 from the field while their defense held Cal State Fullerton to 0-for-15 from the floor in the final seven minutes of the game.
In a light week of action, Cal State Fullerton returns to the court on Saturday (Jan. 23) at 5 p.m. as the Titans host UC Santa Barbara in its only action.