Titan Women Surpass New Mexico State, Scoring Record : Big West Women: Fullerton hits 108 while advancing to title game against Cal State Long Beach. Miller has 44 points and Ray 29, both career bests.

The important issue had long been settled: Cal State Fullerton will play Saturday in the championship game of the Big West Conference women’s basketball tournament.

But as the final minutes of Fullerton’s 108-80 victory over New Mexico State ticked away Thursday, Claudette Jackson took care of two details, the only issues remaining in doubt.

With a lean and a wish, she watched her free throw drop through the net with 2 minutes 24 seconds left, sending Fullerton over the 100-point mark for only the 10th time in school history.

Then, with 1:34 left, Jackson canned a jumper after an offensive rebound, hitting the shot that broke the school scoring record of 104 points. The record had stood since the 1969-70 season, when the Titans beat Cal Western, 104-13--that score is correct--in only the sixth Fullerton women’s game ever played.

The victory sends Fullerton (24-6) into the title game at 3 p.m. Saturday against 21st-ranked Cal State Long Beach (22-7), which Thursday defeated UC Santa Barbara, 82-70.

Jackson scored 18 points, including those benchmark points that elicited cheers of delight from Fullerton’s bench and the Titan fans among the spectators at Long Beach Arena. But the Titans’ victory Thursday was built once again on the fine play of Genia Miller, who tied her career-high of 44 points despite sitting out the final six minutes, with the outcome long sealed.

The other half of the inside-outside game that undid New Mexico State was Joey Ray, who made four three-pointers in a 19-point first half on the way to a career-high 29 points. Her five three-pointers tied the school single-game record held by Jill Matyuch.

Scoring wasn’t all Ray did. She also had nine assists and six steals, both career-highs.

It was Ray’s ability to hit from outside that opened things up inside for Miller, a 6-foot-3 senior.

“They packed it in and triple- and double-teamed me,” Miller said. “Once Joe got on a roll, it opened the middle up and I was able to score and get the lob pass.”

New Mexico State (14-17) might have slowed down one of them, but couldn’t defend both.

“We just weren’t ready for their wing players to be hitting,” said New Mexico State’s Andrea Kabwasa, who scored a career-high 29 points. “We didn’t anticipate them making their shots, which they did.”

Miller might have broken her own school-record of 44 points, but Jeremiah took her out and played the reserves. The coach learned after taking her out that Miller had tied the record, but did not send her back into the runaway game for an attempt to break it.

Miller, who made 17 of 25 shots, also had 12 rebounds and five blocks.

She also added two more school records to her long list. By adding the marks for field-goal attempts in a season and in a career, she now owns every season and career offensive record except those for assists and three-pointers. Miller has attempted 576 shots this season, and 1,548 in her career.

Her 44 points also was a tournament record, breaking the mark of 40 set by Pacific’s Julie Szukalski in 1990.

The team that wins the tournament Saturday earns the conference’s automatic bid to the 48-team NCAA women’s tournament, although both teams seem assured of an invitation.

“We’ve worked real hard to build a program that was going to be competitive enough for us to be able to be in the final game,” said Coach Maryalyce Jeremiah, who recorded her 100th victory at Fullerton with the game, for a 100-74 record in six seasons at the school. “We didn’t come here just to be in the final game. We came to win this tournament.”

Fullerton has won its two tournament games with seeming ease, by 38 and 28 points. By beating New Mexico State, the Titans knocked out the team that had upset 15th-ranked Nevada Las Vegas in the first round.

Fullerton jumped to a 19-2 lead in its first-round game against Fresno State, but the victory over New Mexico State did not start so well.

Fullerton fell behind at the outset, 9-2, as New Mexico State repeatedly scored on layups by beating the Titans down the court.

Jeremiah called a timeout.

“I said I wasn’t going to spend my time yelling at them to get down the court.”