Highlanders Fall At Cal State Fullerton 78-60 For Fifth Straight Loss

Saturday, January 9

Fullerton, CA

5:00 PM

UC Riverside

Cal State Fullerton

Highlanders Fall At Cal State Fullerton 78-60 For Fifth Straight Loss

1/9/2010 4:28:44 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score - Cal State Fullerton 78, UC Riverside 60

Fullerton, CA - The UC Riverside women's basketball team returned to Big West Conference action on Saturday evening at Cal State Fullerton, but a late Titan rally opened up the game and the Highlanders never recovered, falling 78-60 at Titan Gym.

UCR drops to 3-12 overall and 0-2 in conference play, their worst conference start since the 2005-06 season. The Highlanders have also lost their last nine of 10 games.

The Highlanders opened the first half with an early bucket by Alyssa Morris (pictured) just 27 seconds in, but could not convert on another basket for the next four minutes as the Titans (8-8, 4-0) opened a 6-2 advantage. After trading buckets over the next few possessions, CSF pushed their lead out to 10 on three different occasions, the last at 7:58 to make the score 25-15.

UCR rallied over the next minute and a half to trim the lead to five, 26-21, capped off a three-point play by Marissa Rivera with 6:34 remaining. The Titans then scored five unanswered to push their lead back out to 10 points, 31-21, at the 5:11 juncture as they would take a 36-29 lead into the half.

Cal State Fullerton was hot from the field in the first period as they shot 50.0 percent (12-of-24) from the floor including 54.5 percent (6-of-11) from beyond the arc while limiting UCR to 39.3 percent (11-of-28) shooting including 0-of-5 from three-point range. The Highlanders had 14 points in the paint, however, compared to the Titans six.

In the second half, CSF took their seven-point halftime lead and quickly pushed it out to double-digits, 40-30, at the 17:43 mark. The Highlanders then outscored the Titans 7-3 over the next two minutes to cut the lead to six, 43-37, capped off by an Amber Cox layup.

UCR again trimmed the margin to six points at four more occasions throughout the half, the last with under three minutes to go off two Morris free throws to make it 66-60. From that point on, however, the Titans scored 12 straight points to close out the game for the 78-60 victory.

Morris led the Highlanders with 20 points and six rebounds while Rivera added 16. CSF's Megan Richardson had 20 for the Titans while three other players scored in double-figures.

The Highlanders shot 44.7 percent (21-of-47) from the field for the game but only 20.0 percent (2-of-10) from beyond the arc. They also had six blocks on the night -- a season high. The Titans, though, scored 23 points off 18 UCR turnovers while shooting 46.3 percent (25-of-54) from the floor.

The Highlanders return to the Student Recreation Center in Riverside for a four-game home stand beginning with a Thursday, Jan. 14 contest against Cal State Northridge at 7:00 pm. Fans may follow the game live via live stats or listen to the play-by-play as the Voice of the Highlanders, Ghizal Hasan, calls the game beginning at 6:55 pm.