Cal Poly struggled from the floor in a 65-49 loss against Cal State Fullerton on Saturday, Feb. 13 inside Titan Gym. ending the weekend series with a record of 1-1.
The Mustangs now move to 9-7 on the season with a conference record of 5-5. The Titans, who are now 2-14 overall, recorded their first conference victory and now stand at 1-11 against Big West opponents.
Both sides got off to a slow start in the first quarter, totaling just 24 points combined. Sophomore guard Maddie Willet got the scoring started for Cal Poly with a three-pointer that put the Mustangs up 3-0 early. From then, the first quarter was full of turnovers and back-and-forth baskets.
After a jump shot from sophomore guard Maddie Vick tied the game at 11, Fullerton converted two shots at the charity stripe to end the quarter with a 13-11 lead.
Vick continued her scoring run in the second quarter, tallying nine points for Cal Poly. Despite her scoring run, the Titans maintained their lead throughout the quarter in part due to a buzzer beater at the end of the half by forward Kathryn Neff. That shot gave Fullerton a 29-26 lead going into halftime.
After two quarters, the Titans were shooting much more efficiently than the Mustangs, converting on 47.6% of their field goal attempts compared to 31% for Cal Poly. The same trend was seen beyond the arc, as Fullerton shot 41.7% from three while the Mustangs shot 36.4%.
Vick was the only player on either team in double digits for scoring, accounting for 11 of the 26 points for Cal Poly at the half. Willet was just behind Vick with five points of her own.
Despite the Mustangs drawing the game close in the second quarter, the second half saw success for the Titans. Fullerton outscored Cal Poly 27-16 in the third quarter, despite an offensive surge from senior forward Sierra Campisano with eight points in the period.
Going into the last quarter with a 56-42 lead, the Titans defense shut down the Mustangs for the remainder of the game. Campisano opened up the quarter by converting a three-point play with a foul. However, this was followed by a 7:49 scoring drought for Cal Poly. Campisano accounted for all seven fourth quarter points for the Mustangs.
The shooting advantage for Fullerton carried into the second half, ending the game shooting 53.8% from the field and 47.4% from three. Meanwhile, Cal Poly only converted on 31.6% of field goals and 28.6% of three-pointers.
Campisano and Vick were the only Mustangs in double figures, scoring 18 and 11 points respectively.
Cal Poly will return home next week to face off against Long Beach State for a two-game series starting on Friday, Feb. 19 inside Mott Athletics Center.