Freshman guard Alicya Crisp attempts to shoot over a University of San Diego defender. Photo by Chad Uemera/Daily Titan Staff Photographer.

By Juan Saucedo
Daily Titan Staff Writer

Home sweet home wasn’t so sweet for the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team last night.

Despite the fact the Titans (3-4) couldn’t wait to be in front of the home crowd after playing six straight road games to start the season, CSUF played a game of cat and mouse the entire time against the University of San Diego in their home opener.

When the Titans eventually caught up to the Toreros, CSUF failed to hold onto a slim lead down the stretch, resulting in a 64-58 non-conference loss at Titan Gym.

“It’s a tough frustrating loss, but I thought our effort was there, and we played tough in the second half,” said Megan Richardson, a sophomore shooting guard, who had a game-high 15 points for the Titans. “We were down 12 (points) at halftime, and we battled back but our shots didn’t fall.”

The Toreros (5-5) jumped to an early lead at the start of the game by going on an 8-2 run in the opening five minutes after the Titans opened the match with a quick basket.

The Titans answered with a three-pointer by junior point guard Lauren Chow, which cut the deficit to 8-5.

Chow then injured her right leg and had to be carried off the court by her coaches.

With 10 minutes remaining in the first half, senior guard Jasmine Scott made a three-pointer that tied the game 12-12 for the Titans.

The Toreros responded by going on a 17-4 run in the last 10 minutes of the first half, and CSUF trailed 29-16 at halftime.

The Titans had 13 turnovers in the first half and shot 26 percent (6 for 23) from the field and 22 percent (2 for 9) from the three-point range.

CSUF then came out and began to chip away at the lead in the second half.

The Titans capped a 14-3 run with 10 minutes left in the game, cutting the lead to 42-39.

CSUF junior guard Britt Peters hit a three-pointer with eight minutes left in the game to cut the deficit to 44-42 for the Titans.

After a USD turnover, junior guard Ashley Richie’s three-pointer gave the Titans a 45-44 lead.

Junior guard Lyndsey Grove then made two free throws, which made it 47-44 for CSUF.

The Titans had a 54-49 lead with 4:45 left in the game.

Richardson made two free throws to give the Titans a 56-51 lead with 4:13 left.

Dominique Conners then made a jumper for the Toreros that cut the lead to 56-55. USD took a 57-56 lead with a heavily contestant lay-up.

Conners made two free throws with 1:05 left, giving USD a 61-58 lead.

With 28 seconds remaining, Richardson missed a three-pointer that could have tied the game. The Titans fouled USD’s Emily Hatch, who made one of two free-throws.

Richardson then missed another three-point shot, and the Titans fouled USD one more time, ending the scoring.

Richardson said she felt confident about taking the shot, but the plan was to get in the hands of Peters, who went 3 for 5 from the three-point range.

CSUF Head Coach Marcia Foster, who is in her first year with the Titans, said she liked how her team adjusted in the second half even though Chow wasn’t in the game.

“We don’t want to be out toughed in our home court. We’re competitive, and we want to compete,” Foster said.

After the game, Chow held back tears as she stepped out of the locker room with her right knee bandaged.

Chow said she doesn’t know what happened to her leg and that she’s going to wait for the coaches to assess the injury before jumping to a conclusion.

Scott said she felt good that the team battled back and made a game of it even though they failed to rally.

“The game plan was to pretty much play our game, run the court. We’re a fast paced team, and we did that but we did it in spurts,” she said. “We could have done it probably throughout the game, and we should have done it.”

Scott finished with seven points and five rebounds while Peters had 11 points for the Titans. Overall, the Titans shot 30 percent (18 for 60) from the field and 29 percent (7 for 24) from the three-point range in the game.

The Toreros had four players in double figures.

CSUF will play three more games at home, starting with Loyola Marymount on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Titan Gym.