Cal State Fullerton junior Amber Pruitt and freshman Dayana Frias both
scored in double figures, but it wasn't enough as the Titans fell in their
second straight contest, 67-58, to Loyola Marymount in the consolation
game of the John Ascuaga's Nugget Classic in Reno, Nev.
Fullerton dropped to 0-2 overall while LMU improved to 1-1.
Pruitt, who was named to the all-tournament team, had a team-best 15 points
and added six rebounds on the day while Frias notched 12 points and three
steals. However, the Titans were undone by poor shooting, hitting on just
29 percent from the field for the game. By comparison, the Lions hit on
just over 47 percent from the floor.
Redshirt sophomore point guard Audrey Taylor also had a solid all-around
contest, scoring seven points, grabbing eight rebounds, and dishing out
six assists.
The Lions took a 10-4 lead in the first eight minutes of play. They forced
several Titan turnovers and spread the scoring aroun d, as four different
players scored in the opening minutes. Jackie Woods got into foul trouble
earlier, picking up her second foul at 11:33, but it didn't hurt the Lions.
They used a steal and a layup by Amanda DeCoud, and a three-pointer by
Jenni Smith to extend the lead to 22-12.
The Lions committed four straight turnovers to allow the Titans to get
back into the game at 22-17. But baskets by Bianca Ziemann and Valerie
Ogoke helped give LMU a 30-24 lead at halftime.
LMU had a balanced offense in the first half, with five players scoring
at least four points. Grooms had a phenomenal half on the boards, pulling
down nine rebounds in the first half to go with her six points.
Rachael Ziemann scored her first points of the year in the second half,
putting in a jumper and a three-pointer in the opening minutes of the
half. Pruitt took advantage of her size, drawing several LMU fouls and
scoring seven points from the free throw line in the first ten minutes
of the half. She had six straight free throws to give the Titans a 43-42
lead, but back to back baskets by Bianca Ziemann gave LMU the lead against
at 47-43 with 10:04 remaining in the game.
Pruitt drew another LMU foul and made the free throws to cut the LMU lead
to two. Rachael Ziemann took a nice pass from Turner and scored an easy
layup under the basket to extend the lead back to four.
The LMU defense held Cal State Fullerton without a field goal for ten
minutes in the first half, until Dayana Frias hit a three-pointer with
4:02 remaining in the game. But the Lions responded with a basket by Jenni
Smith at 3:39 to extend the lead back to 11 at 61-50.
Although the Titans had two straight three-pointers from Frias, the Lions
held strong in the final minutes for their first victory.
Rachael Ziemann led LMU with 16 points, all in the second half, while
her sister Bianca was LMU's second leading scorer with 14 points. Grooms
had eight points to go with a team-high 12 rebounds.
Cal State Fullerton returns to action on Thanksgiving weekend as one of
four teams at the Four Points LAX Turkey Shootout hosted by Pepperdine
in Malibu, Calif.
The Titans open the tournament on Friday (Nov. 26) against the host Waves
at 3 p.m. with a game against either East Carolina or Montana on Saturday
(Nov. 27) afternoon at 1 or 3:30 p.m.
