Feb. 12, 2009

Box Score

Fullerton, Calif. - The Pacific women's basketball team struggled its way to a 62-51 loss to Cal State Fullerton, marking the 10th loss on the road in the Tigers' 11 road contests this season.

The win snaps the Titans' seven-game losing streak, as they improved to 7-5 overall and a 4-7 Big West Conference record. The Tigers now are 12-11 overall and 6-5 in conference action.

Entering the game, the Tigers had one of the highest-scoring offenses in the Big West Conference averaging 66 points a game, despite its dismal .360 shooting percentage on the road. Early in the game Pacific looked to senior forward Amber Simmons (Chico, Calif.) to continue to lead the top-scoring offense, but she reached foul trouble early on and fouled out with 7:41 remaining in the game.

Simmons closed out her night prematurely just shy of a double-double, with 14 points and nine rebounds. When she fouled out, she was the only Pacific player to record more than five points in the game. As soon as Simmons left the game, Cal State Fullerton built on its eight-point lead momentarily, 44-36.

Junior center Emma Head (San Diego, Calif.) tried to step up in Simmons' absence, closing the gap after two back-to-back buckets to put Pacific within nine. Sophomore Jennifer Fath (Carrollton, Texas) took a turn at scoring for the Tigers, hoping to close the gap and scored to cut the lead down to seven at 52-45 with less than five minutes remaining.

With 4:04 on the clock, Fath grabbed an offensive rebound and fed the ball to senior Janae Young (Sacramento, Calif.) who sunk a 10-foot jumper, closing in on the Titans' 52-47 lead and prompted Pacific head coach Lynne Roberts to call a 30-second time out. At the timeout, Pacific trailed by only five points, for the smallest margin since the first media timeout, when Cal State Fullerton jumped ahead 10-5 early in the game. That lead was all it would need, as the Titans' never looked back after the first four minutes of the game.

After the timeout, freshman Claire McLeod (Victoria, Australia) pushed her way to the back court, forcing a turnover before the Tigers had the ball taken away from then in return. Just as quickly as they stole the ball, Fath drew an offensive charge and seconds later Young fouled out, prompting Pacific to lose its second-leading scorer at the time. Before Young's exit, she registered seven points in the game.

Pacific's fouls proved to be a huge possession for the Titans, forcing a four-point swing as Fullerton regained control of the game to increase the lead at 56-47.

Fath asserted an offensive spurt sinking a layup for the Tigers, before drawing a foul on the next possession when the Tigers cut down the deficit at 56-49. It didn't matter, however, as Fath missed both of her free-throws, as Tigers missed seven on the night. Those missed shots were crucial and proved to be one of the deciding factors in Cal State Fullerton's win.

Simmons led all players with 14 points and nine rebounds, while Fath finished tied for the second-most points on the evening with 11.

Pacific's 51 points ties for its lowest offensive effort of the year, match the 61-51 loss to Idaho on Dec. 11, 2008.

The Tigers will look to break their road woes, when they head to UC Irvine to take on the Anteaters at 4 p.m., on Saturday, Feb. 14.