Feb. 21, 2012
FULLERTON, CA -
Complete Weekly Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK...
UC Riverside at Cal State Fullerton
Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2012 | 7 p.m.
Fullerton, CA | Titan Gym (4,000)
Game Coverage: Gametracker | Live Audio | Live Video
UC Irvine at Cal State Fullerton
Saturday, Feb. 25, 2012 | 3 p.m.
Fullerton, CA | Titan Gym (4,000)
Game Coverage: Gametracker | Live Audio | Live Video
TIP-OFF: A berth in the 2012 Big West Conference Women's Basketball Tournament is still within reach for Cal State Fullerton, but the Titans (9-16 overall, 2-10 in the Big West) will have to post wins this week to keep alive any hopes for postseason play. Fullerton's stretch-run begins on Wednesday night (Feb. 22) at 7 p.m. with a must-win contest against UC Riverside at Titan Gym before the Titans play host to UC Irvine on Saturday (Feb. 25) at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon's tip will mark the final home appearance for Fullerton seniors Megan Richardson and Lauren Chow, who will be honored in pregame "Senior Day" ceremonies at center court.
SCHEDULE ADJUSTED FOR GAME AT LONG BEACH STATE: As a result of a widespread travel party illness that hit the Pacific women's basketball team this past weekend, the Tigers' scheduled game at Long Beach State was postponed on Friday. On the advice of the Centers for Disease Control, the Pacific team returned to Stockton. Utilizing Big West Conference Procedures for Contest Postponement for Force Majure Situations, two women's basketball games have been rescheduled by Commissioner Dennis Farrell as follows: Pacific at Long Beach State will be played on Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 7:00 p.m... Cal State Fullerton at Long Beach State is rescheduled from Wednesday, Feb. 29, to Thursday, March 1, at 7:00 p.m.
NEW LOOK BIG WEST: The Big West Conference Board of Directors announced on Dec. 12, 2011, that San Diego State will return as the conference's 11th member effective July 1, 2013. The Aztecs, whose women's teams were members of the league from 1985-90, were an original member of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association from 1969-78, and will join Hawaii as the league's "newest" members. The Warriors, whose women's programs were part of the Big West from 1984-96, were introduced as the 10th member of the league on Dec. 10, 2010, and will officially compete as a member of the Big West in July of 2012.
BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (CSUF.Athletics), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) and Vimeo.com (vimeo.com/fullertontitans). In addition, the women's basketball team has established its own official Facebook fan page, just search for Cal State Fullerton Women's Basketball.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? GOOD!: Thanks to a partnership with Arizona-based Stretch Internet, select Cal State Fullerton women's basketball contests will be broadcast live over the Internet at FullertonTitans.com. To access the links, click on the headphones icon in the upper right-hand corner of FullertonTitans.com.
I SEE YOU: For the sixth consecutive season, live streaming video for all of Cal State Fullerton's home regular season contests and selected road games will be available (on a subscription basis) live over the Internet courtesy the Big West TV platform. For a monthly subscription of \$9.95 or an annual subscription of \$79.95, fans can catch all the exclusive action from the comfort of their home computers. For more information, please visit www.BigWest.org/TV or access the video player at www.fansonly.com/schools/bigw/allaccess/index.html.
I NEED STATS, STAT!: For the third consecutive season, Cal State Fullerton men's and women's basketball will feature live stats via CBS College Sports' Gametracker interface for all of the Titans' home games as well as select road contests. Links will be available on both the men and women's basketball schedule pages at FullertonTitans.com.
UC RIVERSIDE BRIEFLY: The Highlanders enter Wednesday night's game with a 5-21 overall record and a 3-11 mark in Big West Conference play -- one game ahead of the Titans for eighth place in the standings with a victory over Cal State Fullerton already this season... a win by UC Riverside on Wednesday would essentially put UCR ahead by three games (two games in the standings and holding the head-to-head tiebreaker by virtue of the regular season sweep of the series... the Highlanders have lost four-straight contests heading into Wednesday night dating o a 75-71 win over Long Beach State on Feb. 4... TreShonti Nottingham leads the offense at 14.1 ppg to go with 5.0 rpg and 3.3 apg this season while shooting .394 from the floor... Natasha Hadley is also in double figures at 11.8 ppg, shooting .451 from the field.
UC IRVINE BRIEFLY: The Anteaters enter the week with a 12-15 overall record and an 8-6 mark in Big West play for fourth place... UC Irvine has split its last six contests, including a 1-1 mark last weekend with a 76-63 loss to Cal Poly and a 72-65 win against UC Santa Barbara on Senior Night... Kassandra McCalister leads the offense at 14.1 ppg to go with 4.6 rpg and 112 assists while shooting .394 from the field.
SERIES NOTES: UC Riverside leads the all-time series, 22-18, having won the last five-consecutive meetings with Cal State Fullerton dating back to the 2009-10 season... the Titans' last win over the Highlanders came on Jan. 9, 2010, in a 78-60 win at Titan Gym... UCR has won four of its last five trips to Titan Gym, where Fullerton leads the series, 9-8... the Highlanders are 16-5 against the Titans since joining the Big West Conference in the 2001-02 season, including a 7-3 mark in Fullerton... UC Irvine leads the all-time series with Fullerton, 33-31, having won the last three meetings with the Titans... Fullerton hasn't posted a win since an 89-76 triumph in the 2010 Big West Tournament to cap a stretch where the Titans won 9-of-11 from the Anteaters... Fullerton is 16-12 against UCI at home, having won five of the last six.
SENIOR NIGHT SUCCESS: Cal State Fullerton has won seven of its last nine "Senior Night" events, but are looking to avenge a 73-58 victory by UC Davis in last season's home finale. Overall, the Titans are 26-16 in their final regular season home games dating back to the 1969-70 season, last facing UC Irvine in such a game on March 8, 2008, as Fullerton posted a 70-66 win at Titan Gym. It is the only time that the Titans and Anteaters have met on Cal State Fullerton's senior night in the history of the programs.
NOW MAKING AN APPEARANCE: Senior Lauren Chow's start against Bakersfield last week was her 122nd career appearance in a Titan uniform, tying her with Ashley Richie (2007-11) for the most games played in Cal State Fullerton history. Assuming she doesn't miss Wednesday's game against UC Riverside (insert knock on wood here), Chow's next appearance will break Richie's school record, which stood for exactly 50 weeks and one day.
Natalie Williams: Freshman Natalie Williams entered last week's non-conference tilt with Bakersfield with a total of 20 points and 39 rebounds for the season... she made a run at matching those numbers in one night against the Roadrunners. Williams, who hadn't scored more than eight points or grabbed more than nine rebounds in a game this season, tallied her first career double-double with 11 points and 18 boards (11 offensive) to go with four blocks and two steals in 22 minutes off the bench. The 18 rebounds were the second-most by a Big West Conference player this season (Cal Poly's Kristina Santiago had 23 vs. Fresno State on Nov. 20) and was just one shy of the school's single-game top-10 list as four players (Charlee Underwood, Koko Lahanas, Genia Miller, and Marlene Kline) are tied for ninth with 19 boards.
TWO "FOR THREE": Senior Lauren Chow already holds the school records for three-pointers made (226) and attempted (670), but fellow senior Megan Richardson is rapidly closing in on second place in both categories, giving the Titans a powerful 1-2 punch atop the career lists in that category. Richardson is third in makes (161) and attempts (479), needing four more in both categories to surpass previous record holder Charlee Underwood, who made 164-of-482 from beyond the arc in her career from 2003-07.
IN OTHER "MADE" NEWS: Richardson also ranks seventh in field goals made (579), just 22 makes behind Shayla Bradshaw for sixth place, and is fifth with 341 makes from the free throw line, just 33 free throws shy of Bradshaw (373) for fourth place on that career list.
LEADING AT THE HALF: Fullerton's loss to Bakersfield last week marked its third-consecutive defeat when leading at the half after the Titans had won nine of their first 10 such contests. Fullerton's last victory when leading at halftime came on Jan. 28 in a 21-point victory over Long Beach State (coincidentally, the Titans' last victory overall) as the Titans led, 35-24, at the break.
BOARD WORK: Cal State Fullerton's 58 rebounds against Bakersfield last week marked a season-high on the boards for the Titans in 2011-12 and the most for a Fullerton team since it had 58 rebounds at Sacramento State in a 90-68 victory on Nov. 15, 2009. However, both marks are way off the school record of 86 rebounds grabbed against San Diego on Nov. 28, 1980.
AS GOES MYA...: Apparently so go the Titans. During Fullerton's five-game losing streak, opponents have frustrated the sophomore post player, holding her to a total of 24 points since she scored a career-high 23 points against Long Beach State on Jan. 28 at home.
ALL GO, NO QUIT: Senior Megan Richardson made her 100th consecutive start with the Titans' opening tip against Cal Poly on Jan. 5 and has started 111 consecutive games dating back to her freshman season. The Manhattan Beach native has not missed a start since coming off the bench on Dec. 4, 2008, against No. 16 Vanderbilt and has not missed a single one of the program's 117 possible contests overall dating to the 2008-09 campaign, starting a total of 112 of those games.
"400" IS THE NEW "300": With her 18th point last week against Bakersfield, senior Megan Richardson ascended into rare air in Cal State Fullerton women's basketball history, becoming only the fourth player in school history to reach 400 points in three-consecutive seasons. Richardson, who ranks fifth on the Titans' all-time scoring list, joined Shayla Bradshaw (1992-96) and All-American's Genia Miller (1987-91) and Nancy Ratliff (1980-83) as the only Fullerton players to accomplish the feat. Richardson's 402 points this season are the third-most in her Titan career and, with 98 more points this year, she would become the first Fullerton player with 500 points in a season since Toni Thomas finished her junior year with 512 points in 2007-08.
DOUBLE-DIGIT DOMINATION: You know the old saying, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes?" We'd like to add a third -- Megan Richardson and double-digit points. The Titans spectacular scoring guard has reached double digits in points in 84 of her 117 career games (72 percent), including 29 career 20-point contests and a 33-point effort against Cal Poly on Jan. 13, 2011. She is one of only three active Fullerton players with at least 10 career double-digit games (Lauren Chow and Mya Olivier) and is one of three active Titans who have reached 20 points in their collegiate careers (Chow and Olivier).
A'S FOR CHOW: With 399 assists to her name in her Cal State Fullerton career, redshirt senior Lauren Chow needs just 12 more helpers to jump past Shayla Bradshaw (1992-96) and move into third place on the school's all-time list. With one more assist, Chow will become only the fourth player in school history to accumulate 400 career assists, joining Bradshaw (410 assists), Meg Gallagher (454 assists from 1981-85), and career leader Andrea Thieme (462 assists from 1995-99).
CHOW DIALS LONG DISTANCE FOR MILESTONE: With her three trey's against Bakersfield last week, senior sharpshooter Lauren Chow moved into fifth on the Big West Conference's all-time list for three-pointers made, jumping past Pacific's Kelsey Lavender, who hit 224 career three-pointers from 2004-08. Now, with 226 career three-pointers made, Chow needs just two more makes to surpass past UC Santa Barbara's Stacy Clinesmith (1996-00) for the No. 4 spot and eight more made three-pointers to move past UC Santa Barbara's Erin Alexander (1993-96) for third all-time. Earlier this season against Nevada on Dec. 10, Chow became only the eighth player in the history of the Big West Conference to reach 200 career three-pointers made.
I THOUGHT THESE WERE FREE: Fullerton has been hard-pressed to get to the free throw line in its last six games, trying to make the most of its 67 combined attempts (11.2 FTA per game) in that stretch while its opponents have been to the line nearly twice as often (110 FTA, 18.3 attempts per game). The Titans have attempted 15 free throws or fewer in eight of their last 12 games.