Feb. 3, 2007
FULLERTON, CA - Cal State Fullerton senior Andrea Adams scored a team-high 25 points off the bench and led two other Titans in double figures, but it wasn't enough to topple league-leading UC Riverside as the Highlanders defeated Fullerton, 80-73, on Saturday afternoon in a Big West Conference women's basketball game at Titan Gym.
The loss dropped Cal State Fullerton is 10-12 overall and 4-4 in the Big West, snapping a three-game winning streak overall. UC Riverside improved to 13-9, 7-1 in league play.
Adams, who missed her career-high of 26 by a single point, was 9-of-15 from the floor, including five three-pointers, in 25 minutes of play. She was joined in double figures by junior Dayana Frias, who set a new career-high with 19 points and scored in double figures for the third time in her last four games.
Sophomore Toni Thomas score 12 points and grabbed six rebounds, but was held to just 3-of-13 shooting from the floor.
Neither team led by more than three points in the first five minutes of the half until a 15-4 run by the Highlanders gave them an 11-point advantage at 25-14 with just under 11 minutes remaining.
The UCR lead eventually grew to 12 points until the Titans began to chip away as a 7-0 run, capped by an Andrea Adams' three-pointer, brought Fullerton to within five points at 29-24 with four minutes to go.
From there on out, the Highlanders began to pull away as back-to-back three-pointers by Cox and Brittany Waddell helped jumpstart a 10-2 run to close out the half as Riverside, which shot 56 percent from the floor in the first period, took a 39-26 lead into the lockerroom at halftime.
UCR increased its lead to as many as 17 with four minutes gone in the second half, before the Titans slowly worked their way back in it as a 9-0 run cut the Highlanders' lead down to eight points at 47-39 with just under 13 minutes to go.
Riverside responded with an 11-2 run of its own over the next three and a half minutes to lead 58-41.
The deficit remained double digits until the 5:29 mark of the first half as Adams' jumper cut the lead to nine at 64-55 to cap a 14-6 run that included seven points from the senior guard.
Fullerton eventually worked the deficit down to seven points at 69-62 with just over two minutes left, but UC Riverside hit 7-of-8 down the stretch to hold off any comeback attempt.
The Highlanders were led by junior Kemie Nkele's game-high 27 points as she led three other teammates in double figures. Seyram Gbewonyo finished with 13 points, Brittany Waddell added 11 points off the bench, and Amber Cox finished with 10.
UCR shot 53 percent from the floor for the game and made half (8-of-16) from three-point range. Both the Highlanders and Titans were almost perfect from the free throw line as UC Riverside hit on 20-of-24 (.833) from the stripe while Cal State Fullerton, which leads the league in free throw percentage, hit on 17-of-19 (.895) from the line.
Following two straight weeks of single games, the Titans return to the court for a pair of Big West contests next week as Fullerton closes out a three-game homestand against Pacific on Thursday night (Feb. 8) at 7 p.m. before hosting Cal State Northridge on Saturday (Feb. 10) at 2 p.m.