PCAA Women’s Tournament : Titans’ Rally Falls Short Against Rebels

The Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team made a remarkable comeback Friday, trimming Nevada Las Vegas’ 23-point, second-half lead to 5 with 1:16 to play in the semifinals of the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. tournament.

But, unfortunately for the Titans, a miracle was not in the offing.

Fullerton shots stopped falling and the Rebels held on in the final minute, making 6 of 10 free throws, to defeat the Titans, 80-75, in the Forum.

Las Vegas (21-8) will play Cal State Long Beach today at 11 a.m. to determine who receives an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

“We have a bunch of kids who know that if they keep playing, something good might happen.” said Maryalyce Jeremiah, Titan coach.

It took awhile Friday. Fullerton (11-18)fell behind by as many as 16 points in the first half and, with 13:38 to play in the second, the Titans trailed, 59-36.

But Fullerton came back behind the play of Robin Holmes, who finished with a game-high 30 points, and Wendy Anae and Kathy Gorman, who scored 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Eight straight points, four each by Holmes and Gorman, made it 63-51, with 8:05 left. With 2:25 to play and Las Vegas holding an 11-point lead, Anae made a jump shot from the top of the key and was fouled by Rebel center Donya Monroe after the shot.

Anae made both free throws in the one-and-one situation, and the Titans trailed by seven, 74-67. Fullerton then cut the lead to 76-71 on Gorman’s three-point play and Sheryl Jones’ free throw. Jones could have cut it to four but missed on her second attempt from the line.

Misty Thomas, who scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Las Vegas, then made four free throws in the final 1:06 to help the Rebels stave off the Fullerton charge.

Monroe led Las Vegas scorers with 23 points, doing most of her damage from short range. Angela Christian added 15 points, including 13 in the first half, to help the Rebels build the big lead, and guard Karen Hall had 14 points, 6 assists and 6 steals.

“We knew Thomas and Monroe would kill us, but they’re good at every position,” Jeremiah said.

The Rebels didn’t look too good in the second half, though, and that has Las Vegas co-coach Jim Bolla concerned. Just last week (Feb. 27), Las Vegas had a 20-point lead over the Titans with three minutes to play but won by only 10, 69-59.

“Of course, I’m not satisfied,” Bolla said. “When you reach that level, you want to maintain that lead. This happens all the time. But I would have been happy to win by one point.”

Had the Titans played a better first half, they may have defeated the heavily-favored Rebels. Jeremiah thought Fullerton had a realistic chance at an upset.

“I really felt, even though they’re a better team, we could win because we were real relaxed after yesterday’s win,” she said. Fullerton defeated Hawaii, 76-69, in the first round. “We played hard, but sometimes we don’t realize how hard we have to play. Las Vegas played with more intensity in the first half and we got down early.”

In the other semifinal:

Cal State Long Beach 116, San Diego State 74--Junior center Cindy Brown scored 27 points and had 8 steals to lead the seventh-ranked 49ers past the Aztecs.

Junior forward Carol Brandt added 24 points and 7 rebounds and senior guard Missy Rand scored 18 points. Long Beach used a tenacious, full-court press to help cause 24 Aztec turnovers. Dee Dee Duncan was San Diego’s high scorer with 24 points.