Cal State Fullerton senior guard Tamara Quinn sank a driving lay-up with
:03 remaining on the clock to lift the visiting Titans to a 69-68 victory
over host Utah State on Thursday night in a Big West Conference women's
basketball game in Logan, Utah.
Fullerton snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 3-12 overall,
3-3 in the Big West. The Titans are a perfect 4-0 in the series between
the two teams. The Aggies fell to 2-12, 2-4 in league play.
Utah State's Brittany Tressler hit a lay-up with :09 remaining on the
clock to give the Aggies a short-lived 68-67 lead. Quinn then took the
ball and drove the length of the court, slashing through the lane and
banking in the game-winning basket with three seconds left.
A last-second half-court attempt by Christina Zdenek missed at the buzzer
as the Titans escaped with the victory.
Cal State Fullerton led by eight points with just under four minutes to
play, but Utah State battled back, scoring eight straight points to tie
the score and then take the lead with under a minute to play on a lay-up
by Ali Aird.
The Titans responded quickly as a three-pointer by Meghann Keathley with
just under :32 seconds remaining off a pass from a driving Quinn gave
the Titans a slim one-point advantage at 67-66 before Tressler scored
the Aggies' final points.
Cal State Fullerton led 33-26 at halftime and built its margin to 11 points
at 41-30 with 17:06. The Titans led by 13 at 56-43 with 10:09 left before
USU went on a 23-8 run to get its first lead (66-64) of the second half
with :50 left.
Fullerton shot .448 from the floor for the game to Utah State's .473,
and withstood a blistering shooting performance in the second half by
the Aggies, who shot just under 60 percent from the field after the break.
The difference came in long-range shooting as the Titans torched the nets
for 10 three-pointers and shot .588 from beyond the arc.
Keathley hit for a career-high 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the
field, including 3-of-6 from three-point range. Senior Jaime Wagner hit
for a career-high 12 points on four three-pointers, while Quinn added
seven points and seven rebounds.
Quinn now needs 44 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Aird had a double-double for Utah State with 18 points and 13 rebounds,
helping the Aggies to a 33-30 advantage on the boards. Zdenek added 12
points in the loss.
Fullerton looks to build off the victory on Saturday night (Jan. 24) as
the Titans travel to Moscow, Idaho, to take on the Vandals at 7 p.m. (PST).
