Feb. 22, 2006
FULLERTON, CA -
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The court at Titan Gym will be a welcome sight (or "site" as the case may be) to the Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team (9-15 overall, 6-6 in the Big West Conference for fourth place) as the Titans return home to host their final two league opponents of the 2005-06 season. Fullerton opens the final conference weekend with a match-up against UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night (Feb. 23) at 7 p.m., before the Titans host Cal Poly on "Senior Day" at 2 p.m. on Saturday (Feb. 25).
LIVE AND IN LIVING COLOR...
Audio for this weekend's games will be available online at www.FullertonTitans.com and, for the first time in the history of the program, fans of Cal State Fullerton women's basketball can watch the action live over the Internet thanks to a partnership between the Big West Conference and CSTV. All remaining men's and women's regular season games not on an ESPN or Fox Sports Net platform are to be streamed as part of a subscription service beginning Jan. 25 for \$24.95. To sign up an view the games, please visit www.cstv.com/ot/bigwest-aa.html.
SCOUTING UC SANTA BARBARA
The Gauchos enter the week with a 12-11 overall record and a 7-3 mark in Big West Conference play to sit in second place. UCSB snapped a three-game losing streak with a 46-43 win at Long Beach State on Feb. 18 and had won 10-of-12 at one point this season. The Gauchos are led offensively by sophomore center Jenna Green, who is averaging better than 14 points and seven rebounds per game this season. Sophomore guard Jessica Wilson is also averaging double figures at 10.0 ppg.
SCOUTING CAL POLY
Cal Poly enters the week with a 10-12 overall record and a 5-6 mark in league play to stand in sixth place. Saturday's game against the Titans will be the Mustangs' only contest of the week. Cal Poly has lost five straight games dating back to a Jan. 28 win over Cal State Northridge and has lost eight of its last 10. Junior forward Jessica Eggleston is the lone Mustang averaging double figures at 12.1 ppg and leads the team on the boards at 6.0 rpg.
SERIES NOTES
&\#149; UC SANTA BARBARA: UC Santa Barbara leads the alltime series with the Titans, 31-22, dating back to the 1970-71 season... The Gauchos have won the last 24 meetings with the Titans - the longest active winning streak by any one opponent against Fullerton... Fullerton has not emerged victorious against UCSB since a 97-86 win on March 8, 1995, in the second round of the Big West Tournament... the Titans are 12-11 all-time against the Gauchos at Titan Gym... UCSB won the first meeting, 68-54,
&\#149; CAL POLY: Cal State Fullerton holds a 20-11 all-time lead in the series with the Mustangs dating back to the 1969-70 season... Cal Poly won the first meeting with the Fullerton this season, an 81-74 victory at Mott Gym on Jan. 2 to open the conference schedule... Fullerton is 10-4 all-time against Cal Poly at Titan Gym, having won the last three straight at home dating back to the 2002-03 season.
BIG WEST TOURNEY PICTURE
The Titans currently stand in fourth place in the Big West Conference which would give Fullerton a first-round bye. However, the margin for error is slim as the Titans lead fifth-place UC Riverside by only half a game and stand just two games back of UCSB for second. Conference leading Long Beach State clinched the first semifinal berth in the tournament and can finish no lower than second place.
LOOKING FOR MORE TITAN GYM MAGIC
Cal State Fullerton will be looking to improve upon it's 8-2 home record this weekend against UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly as the Titans aim for double-digit wins at home for the first time since the NCAA Tournament-bound 1990-91 squad went 12-1. Fullerton, which has secured its first winning home season since going 7-5 in 1997-98, will also be looking to reach double-digit wins overall for the first time since that same squad went 10-17.
JEREMIAH CLOSE TO MILESTONE \#2
The Titans' 59-55 victory over UC Riverside on Feb. 9 not only gave head coach Dr. Maryalyce Jeremiah her 401st career coaching win, but inched her ever so closer to becoming the all-time winningest women's basketball coach at Cal State Fullerton. Jeremiah, who is 401-293 (.578) overall in 25-plus seasons, stands just two wins short of matching Hall of Fame Head Coach Billie Moore's school record of 140 career wins at Cal State Fullerton. Jeremiah is 138-148 (.486) in her nine-plus years at the helm of the Titan women's basketball program.
THOMAS MAKING CASE FOR POSTSEASON HONORS
Freshman Toni Thomas continues to make her case for postseason freshman honors in the Big West as the Titans' forward posted a pair of double-doubles in Fullerton's losses last weekend. Thomas grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds to go with 12 points in a loss to Pacific and backed that up with her 23-point, 15-rebound effort in a loss at Cal State Northridge on Saturday. Thomas now leads the team with five double-doubles on the year and Saturday's 23 points marked the third time this season that she has surpassed the 20-point plateau.
THE TIME IS NOW
If Cal State Fullerton is to snap it's 24-game losing streak to UC Santa Barbara on Thursday night, Titan Gym may just be the place to do it. The Gauchos are just 4-8 away from home this season (8-3 at home) and has lost their last two after a four-game winning streak.
ADAMS ON A ROLL
Junior guard Andrea Adams extended her double-digit scoring streak to four straight games over the weekend, including exploding for a career-high 26 points in a road loss at Pacific on Thursday. She is averaging 19.5 points per game during that span while shooting .436 (24-for-55) from the floor and .419 (13-for-31) from three-point range to power the Fullerton offense. Thanks to the run, Adams has seen her scoring average jump over two points per game from 6.5 to 8.7 ppg, which ranks fourth on the team.
GETTING THE FREE ONES
Cal State Fullerton continues to lead the Big West Conference in free throw percentage, hitting on just under 71 percent (.709) of its shots from the charity stripe this season. Should the Titans keep this pace up, the 2005-06 squad would post the fifth-highest percentage in the history of the program since the 1980-81 season and the best since 1994-95 (.717).
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD
Cal State Fullerton used two more different starting lineups this past weekend as freshman Jessica Kaller and senior Tessa Moon each earned their first and second starts of the season, respectively. That brings the number of different starting lineups used by the Titans this season to 16 in 24 games. With the addition of Kaller to the starting lineup list, only two of the 15 players that have seen time this season have not started.
PRUITT'S STREAK ENDS AT FIVE
Senior Amber Pruitt's double digit scoring streak came to an end at five straight games on Saturday at Cal State Fullerton after she had gone for 19 points in loss at Pacific two games earlier. Pruitt had been averaging 16.0 points per game during the streak until the Matadors' defense held her to just six points (but, on the bright side, 12 rebounds).
THOMAS CONTINUES TO BE OFFENSIVE
Freshman Toni Thomas continues to lead the Big West Conference in offensive rebounds at 3.67 per game, edging out Long Beach State's Jayme Connors (3.58 per game) for the top spot. Of her team-leading 160 total rebounds, over half of those (88 rebounds or 55 percent) have been on the offensive boards. Thomas, who is averaging 6.7 rpg this season, ranks fifth in the league in rebounding and is one of only three freshmen (UC Riverside's Amber Cox and UC Irvine's Kelly Cochran) in the top 15 in that category.
EVERY NIGHT A DIFFERENT HEROINE
Cal State Fullerton has had eight different players either lead or co-lead the team in scoring paced by junior Charlee Underwood, who has done it eight times, followed by freshman Toni Thomas (6) and senior Amber Pruitt (5). With Thomas' 23 points against Cal State Northridge, she snapped a string of three straight games of Andrea Adams leading the team in scoring.