March 1, 2006
FULLERTON, CA -
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With the conclusion of Big West Conference play behind them, the Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team (10-16 overall, 7-7 in the Big West) closes out the 2005-06 regular season on Thursday (March 2) as the Titans travel north to meet UC Davis in a non-conference affair. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
LIVE AND IN LIVING COLOR...
Live audio for Thursday's game at UC Davis can be heard live through the Aggies' website at www.ucdavisaggies.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 DAVIS
The Aggies are 16-10 overall and would be 11-3 in the Big West Conference this season. UC Davis split a pair last weekend in southern California, defeating UC Irvine (56-53) before falling to Long Beach State (78-62) to end its nine-game winning streak. Offensively, the Aggies boast four players in double figures led by junior post Ellen Porshneva, who is averaging 12.2 points and four rebounds per game while shooting 45 percent from the field. Jessica Campbell (12.0 ppg), Jackie Turpin (11.6 ppg), and Kimberly Smith (10.8 ppg) are also in double figures for the Aggies.
BIG WEST TOURNEY PICTURE
The race for a first-round bye in next week's Big West Conference Tournament is now out of the Titans' hands as Fullerton has finished its conference schedule for the season. The Titans are currently tied for fourth place, and a first-round bye, with UC Riverside at 7-7, but Fullerton holds the tiebreaker between the two by virtue of its series sweep this season.
However, that's about as easy as figuring out the seeds is gonna get. UC Irvine (7-6: vs. Long Beach State), Cal Poly (5-7: vs. Cal State Northridge and Pacific), or Cal State Northridge (5-7: at Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara) could finish with identical 7-7 marks - making the tournament picture markedly more muddled.
The best-case scenario would have UC Irvine losing to Long Beach State forcing a three-way tie for third place - one that Cal State Fullerton would win based on its 3-1 record against the other two teams.
SERIES NOTES
Cal State Fullerton will be looking for a split in the season series after UC Davis downed the Titans, 75-71, back on Jan. 28 at Titan Gym. Last season, in the first meetings between the two schools, each team won on the other's home court.
JEREMIAH CLOSE TO MILESTONE \#2
The Titans' 76-67 victory over Cal Poly on Feb. 25 not only gave head coach Dr. Maryalyce Jeremiah her 402nd 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 402-294 (.578) overall in 25-plus seasons, stands just one win short of matching Hall of Fame Head Coach Billie Moore's school record of 140 career wins at Cal State Fullerton. Jeremiah is 139-149 (.483) in her nine-plus years at the helm of the Titan women's basketball program.
.500 MORE THANK JUST OK
Cal State Fullerton's victory over Cal Poly on Saturday put the Titans at the .500 mark for the season in conference play - marking the first time that has happened since the 1990-91 squad went 14-4 in Big West Conference play en route to an NCAA berth and ending a streak of 14 consecutive losing Big West seasons. In addition, should the standings remain as they are, the tie for fourth in the league would be the Titans' highest non-divisional finish since ending up third in 1990-91. Cal State Fullerton finished third in the Big West Conference's Western Division in 1997-98.
FIRST TO TEN
The Titans' win over Cal Poly was their 10th of the season - marking the most wins by the Titans since the 1997-98 team went 10-17 overall. A win Thursday at UC Davis would give Fullerton its highest single-season win total in over 10 seasons when the 1994-95 sqaud went 14-15 overall.
THOMAS TRIPLES HER PLEASURE
Freshman forward Toni Thomas continued to do it all for the Titans as she notched her third consecutive double-double in Fullerton's one-point loss to UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 23. Thomas, who scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and missed her fourth-straight double-double by two rebounds against Cal Poly, averaged 17 points and 14 rebounds during her double-double streak, including 23 points against Cal State Northridge and 17 rebounds against Pacific.
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 her sixth double-double of the season against UCSB and upped her double-digit scoring streak to four straight (16.3 points per game) last weekend. She ranks among Big West leaders in six major offensive categories - including the top five in five of those six. Thomas' 313 points this season leads all Cal State Fullerton players and she is one of three Titans (Charlee Underwood and Amber Pruitt) who have scored at least 300 points this season.
POTENT OFFENSIVE TRIO
Thanks to their scoring exploits this past weekend, the offensive trio of Charlee Underwood, Toni Thomas, and Amber Pruitt all surpassed 300 points this season - marking the first time since the 1996-97 season that the Titans have had three, 300-point scorers in a single-season. The trio has made up just over half of Fullerton's offensive production in 2005-06 (with at least two more games remaining), much like the trio of Andrea Thieme (385 points), Dee Braxton (331), and Kris Sigg (330) made up 57 percent of Fullerton's offense nine years ago.
STEALING MORE THAN THEIR HEARTS
Cal State Fullerton junior Charlee Underwood has found a weakness in the Cal poly offense this season, setting a new career high with seven steals in Saturday night's 76-67 win over the Mustangs at Titan Gym. She broke her previous career high of six steals also set against Cal Poly earlier this season on Jan. 2 in San Luis Obispo.
ADAMS ON A ROLL
Junior guard Andrea Adams extended her double-digit scoring streak to six straight games over the weekend, including reaching the 20-point plateau for the second time in four games with 20 points in the win over Cal Poly. She is averaging 18.5 points per game during that span while shooting 41 percent from the field (33-for-80). Thanks to the run, Adams has seen her scoring average jump almost three points per game from 6.5 to 9.3 ppg - a total which ranks fourth on the team.
THOMAS CONTINUES TO BE OFFENSIVE
Freshman Toni Thomas slipped to second behind Long Beach State's Jayme Connors for the conference lead in offensive rebounds, averaging 3.65 per game to Connors' 3.69 per game. Of her team-leading 178 rebounds this season, over half of those (95 rebounds or 53 percent) have been on the offensive boards. Thomas, who is averaging 6.8 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.
CAN'T WE ALWAYS PLAY AT HOME?
Cal State Fullerton finished the season 9-3 at Titan Gym - the most home victories for the Titans since the 1990-91 squad went 12-1 and secured the first winning record at Titan Gym for the women's basketball team since the 1997-98 team went 7-5.
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).