Furious Final Minute Of Action Not Enough For UCR In 82-78 Loss To CSF

Thursday, January 9

Riverside, CA

7:00 pm

UC Riverside

4-10, 0-1BWC

Cal State Fullerton

5-9, 1-0BWC

Team	1	2	F
Cal State Fullerton	35	47	82
UC Riverside	34	44	78

Photo by: Carlos Puma

Furious Final Minute Of Action Not Enough For UCR In 82-78 Loss To CSF

1/9/2014 7:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Riverside - A furious final rally over the last minute of play fell just short for the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team on Thursday evening in their Big West Conference opener to Cal State Fullerton, 82-78 (box score).

The Highlanders were down by 10 with 2:42 remaining, and still down seven with just over a minute to play. Brittany Crain hit a three-pointer with 44 seconds left to cut the margin to four, 77-73. Forced to foul, UCR sent CSF's Chante Miles to the line, and the guard made both to push the lead back to six.

On UC Riverside's next trip down the court, Simone DeCoud drained a long ball to force a one-possession game, 79-76, with just 22 seconds left. Cal State Fullerton again hit two from the foul line with 14 seconds to go, but Crain converted a layup with eight seconds remaining as the lead was back to three, 81-78.

After failing to get a steal, UCR fouled Alex Thomas, and the Fullerton guard missed the first but made the second free throw to give the Titans a four-point lead, 82-78, with only five seconds remaining. UC Riverside took a last second shot, but it was off the mark as CSF held on for the four-point victory.

The Highlanders fall to 4-10 on the season and 0-1 in Big West play, while Cal State Fullerton improves to 5-9, 1-0.

Crain scored a game-high 25 points for UCR on 9-of-14 shooting, while Annelise Ito had 22 points on 9-of-12 from the field, and DeCoud added 17.

Tailer Butler led the Titans with 19 points while Thomas and Miles both added 18 apiece.

In the first half, there were four tie scores and two lead changes as neither squad led by more than two possessions. CSF's largest lead of the period came when they turned a 10-10 tie into a 16-10 advantage, forcing the Highlanders to call timeout.

Consecutive buckets made it a two-point game, 16-14, at the 11:14 juncture, until the Titans pushed it back to five on three more occasions throughout the half, the last at 32-27 with 3:34 to go. DeCoud connected on a three-pointer, and Crain scored a pair of free throws as UC Riverside scored five straight to tie the score at 32 a minute later.

Cal State Fullerton entered the break up one, 35-34, depsite UCR outshooting them, 53.8 percent to 46.4 percent.

The Titans came out strong in the second period, scoring five straight and eventually pushing the margin to double-digits, 48-38, with 15:44 remaining. The Highlanders rallied scoring 11 of the next 15 points to make it a 52-49 score with 12:06 to go.

But CSF responded with a 13-2 run to open up its largest lead of the game, 65-51, just three minutes later. UC Riverside cut the lead back to two possessions, 71-66, following six straight points, but the Titans pushed it back to 10 as it set up the final few mintues of action.

For the game, UCR shot 55.2 percent from the field including 44.4 percent from three-point range. Cal State Fullerton made 46.7 percent of its shots while forcing 19 UCR turnovers.

The Highlanders now hit the road for a Saturday, January 11 contest at UC Irvine beginning at 4 pm PT at the Bren Center in Irvine, CA.