Titans Pull Off Another Upset; Advance to Big West Semis
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And the Cinderella ride continues, as eighth-seeded Cal State Fullerton advanced to the Big West Tournament semifinals for the first time since the 2008-09 season, after upending three-seeded Hawai'i, 66-51, Wednesday night at the Bren Events Center, in what arguably was the Titans' most impressive performance of the season.
With the win, Fullerton (11-21) has now won back-to-back games for the first time since late February, but most importantly, will now play top-seeded Pacific at the Honda Center at noon Saturday, with a spot in the conference championship game on the line.
The Titans boasted four players in double-figure scoring for just the third time this season, with Mya Olivier leading the bunch, as she put together one of her best games of the season, scoring a season-high 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting in the win. Annie Park also contributed 12 points on a stellar 5-of-6 shooting, including going a perfect 2-of-2 from three-point land. Chante Miles recorded a career-high tying seven steals, while pouring in 13 points. Tailer Butler recorded her first double-digit scoring performance since pouring in a career-high 27 points Jan. 2 vs. this very same Hawai'i team, as she scored all 10 of her points in the second half on 4-of-6 shooting.
Kamilah Martin was the only Hawai'i player to reach double-digits in the scoring column, as she put up a team-high 15 points and 13 points in the loss.
Fullerton turned what was a 25-25 game at halftime, into one of the most efficient second halves the program has seen in years, as the Titans shot a sizzling 57.1 percent on 12-of-21 shooting for the second half. The 57.1 percent shooting is the highest shooting percentage Fullerton has recorded since it connected for a 60 percent clip during the second half vs. UC Riverside on Jan. 8, 2011.
Despite the hot shooting, the Rainbow Wahine were able to stick around early on in the second half, but soon the Titans spattered off a 14-2 scoring run in just over a three-minute span, to take what was 36-36 ballgame and turn it into a comfortable 50-38 Fullerton lead with 7:08 left to play.
Hawai'i was able to get the game back to as close as 52-45 with 4:04 left to play, after Shawna-Lei Kuehu put in a layup, but the Titans would let it get no closer than that, as Butler came right back and knocked down a contested mid-range jumper on the very next possession, sparking when then turned into a 10-0 Fullerton scoring run.
The Titans built the lead to as high as 15 points, and that's where it stayed, as they knocked down 14-of-18 second half free throws to help seal the deal.
As great as the game ended for Fullerton, it began just as well. After Hawai'i hit thr first basketball of the game, the Titan defense created numerous turnovers, which led to an 11-0 scoring run, capped off by a Miles steal and score to put the Titans up 11-3 with 12:38 left to play in the half. Fullerton ended up scoring 25 points off of 22 Hawai'i turnovers in the game.
While the game was closely contested most of the way, the lead only changed on three occasions, as the Titans were in control most of the way.
Fullerton's focus now shifts to Friday, as it aims to advance to just its second Big West Championship game in school history.
UCSB Takes Care of Business In The Quarterfinals With 45-31 Win Over CSUN
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UC Santa Barbara limited Cal State Northridge to just 31 points in a convincing victory in the Big West Quarterfinals at the Bren Events Center on Wednesday night. The Gauchos showed that they benefited from their first round bye by easily advancing to the Big West Tournament Semifinals with the 45-31 win over CSUN.
"We will enjoy this victory for tonight," senior Kirsten Tilleman said in her initial thoughts on the win. "But we know we have a lot more work to do in this tournament."
With the victory, UCSB has now gone 3-0 against the Matadors this season. Going into the matchup, the Gauchos were the only team to keep the Matadors under 40 points, and they were able to do it for a second time by limiting CSUN to just 31 points off a dismal 24% shooting from the field.
Even though the Gauchos came into the game as defending Big West Champs, they showed that they were still prone to postseason nerves. After recording a steal on the Matadors' opening possession, Sweets Underwood miss fired the ball out of bounds on her pass intended for Nicole Nesbit with no defenders in sight. But as they have done all season, the Gauchos shook off the bad play and looked ahead to capitalize on their future opportunities.
Nesbit gladly spearheaded this approach for her team in the first half. The junior guard had eight of her 12 total points in the first half, including consecutive jump shots to keep CSUN at bay early on. After sinking those buckets, Nesbit had the Gauchos up 12-5 with 11:21 to play in the first half.
Sweets Underwood led the floor with 16 points and 9 rebounds. Underwood was kept quiet in the first half, only recording six points, but she was able to help her team close the game out midway through the second.
Underwood scored eight straight points for UCSB starting with 9:08 left to play. After knocking down four free throws and a jumper, Underwood capped off the stretch with a layup to give UCSB their largest lead of the night at 41-25.
The Gauchos didn't allow any Matador to score in double-digits. Violet Alama led CSUN with nine points, shooting 3-6 from the field.
The Matadors came into the game as the fourth best three-point shooting team in the conference with a collective 30.5% from beyond the arc, but they were shutout from their long range shots by the Gaucho defense, going 0-12. UCSB is the only team this season to not allow a single three-pointer to fall for CSUN.
UCSB played the game in the same venue where they started their Big West Championship a year ago. While that coincidence may have had some of the fans feeling nostalgic, the team is solely focused on what's happening now.
"What we started last season [at UC Irvine] was great," Tilleman said. "But now we're just focused on playing for another championship."
To get back to the championship game, UCSB will have to go through a team they have not beaten the past two seasons, Cal Poly. The Mustangs are the second seeded team in the Big West and will make their tournament debut in semifinals on Friday, as they earned byes through the first two rounds. Tipoff is slated for 2:30pm at the Honda Center. The game can be heard on AM 1290, UCSBgauchos.com and viewed on BigWest.tv.