15-14, 10-6
Cal State Fullerton
13-18, 5-11
Cal State Fullerton Hangs On Late To Oust Cal Poly In Quarterfinals, 55-48
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
FULLERTON, Calif. — The Cal Poly women's basketball team used a 16-6 run late in the second half Wednesday night to cut Cal State Fullerton's lead to 50-48 with a minute and 25 seconds left, but the Titans held on from there to finish a win on their home floor, ousting the Mustangs from the Big West Conference Tournament quarterfinals, 55-48 in Titan Gym.
Fullerton, the bracket's seventh seed, was coming off a 71-59 victory over the sixth seed, UC Riverside, at Tuesday's first-rounder in the same building.
The Titans took a 24-13 lead by the time just under five minutes remained to halftime Wednesday, but Cal Poly, the No. 3 seed, responded with an 11-2 swing going up to the horn, heading to the locker room down just 26-24.
Taryn Garza and Hannah Gilbert had baskets during the run, which also included a Mary Kate Evans free throw and two 3-pointers from Ariana Elegado (the latter of which came with only seven seconds to go).
Midway through the second half, sophomore forward Rachel Koehler scored to close the deficit to 38-32, but CSF converted three close-range shots over the ensuing two-and-a-half minutes for the game's largest lead, 44-32, with 8:35 on the clock.
After five straight points from Garza and a Koehler free throw made it 50-48, Fullerton sank five free throws inside the closing 56 seconds to advance.
Kathleen Iwuoha had 19 points, while Tailer Butler added 17 for the Titans, who'll now face top-seeded Hawai'i at noon Friday.
Garza, the back-to-back Big West Hustle Player of the Year, had 14 points and 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season, as well as her ninth game of the year with at least 10 boards (improving her career total to 544).
Elegado, a two-time all-conference first-team guard, added 12 points (moving beyond the career 1,500-points milestone), along with three assists (upping her total since 2011-12 to 466, just one away from tying the all-time school record set by Jonae Ervin a year ago).
Fellow senior Kristen Ale, an all-conference honorable mention guard, also had six points Wednesday.
The outcome brought to an end a streak of seven consecutive appearances in the tournament semifinals for the Mustangs (15-14 overall). They went 10-6 against the rest of the league during the regular season, for a .697 cumulative winning percentage during the careers of their three seniors.
Photo © Matt Brown
