Women's Basketball Tips With Biola Exhibition

Oct. 28, 2011

FULLERTON, CA -

TIP-OFF: The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team opens its 2011-12 season this weekend as the Titans host Biola University in an exhibition on Saturday (Oct. 29) at 2 p.m. at Titan Gym. Admission is free to the event, which will be the only regular season tune-up for Fullerton prior to officially tipping-off its campaign on Nov. 11 with a short jaunt north to the State Capitol for a clash with Sacramento State.

STRAIGHT FROM THE COACH'S MOUTH: Preview the 2011-12 Cal State Fullerton women's basketball season as the sports information staff sat down with Head Coach Marcia Foster to talk about the upcoming campaign. View the video, shot in stunning HD by Matt Brown, by clicking here.

BE A FOLLOWER: Fans can keep up with the latest in Titans athletics by following us on Facebook (CSUF.Athletics), Twitter (@FullertonTitans) and Vimeo.com (vimeo.com/fullertontitans). In addition, the women's basketball team has established its own official Facebook fan page, just search for Cal State Fullerton Women's Basketball.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? GOOD!: Thanks to a partnership with Arizona-based Stretch Internet, select Cal State Fullerton women's basketball contests will be broadcast live over the Internet at FullertonTitans.com. To access the links, click on the headphones icon in the upper right-hand corner of FullertonTitans.com.

I SEE YOU: For the sixth consecutive season, live streaming video for all of Cal State Fullerton's home regular season contests and selected road games will be available (on a subscription basis) live over the Internet courtesy the Big West TV platform. For a monthly subscription of \$9.95 or an annual subscription of \$79.95, fans can catch all the exclusive action from the comfort of their home computers. For more information, please visit www.BigWest.org/TV or access the video player at www.fansonly.com/schools/bigw/allaccess/index.html.

I NEED STATS, STAT!: For the third consecutive season, Cal State Fullerton men's and women's basketball will feature live stats via CBS College Sports' Gametracker interface for all of the Titans' home games as well as select road contests. Links will be available on both the men's and women's basketball schedule pages at FullertonTitans.com.

TITANS LOOK TO KEEP EXHIBITION STREAK GOING: Who says they don't count? Cal State Fullerton enters Saturday's meeting with Biola riding a seven-game exhibition winning streak dating back to a 78-57 loss to "Love & Basketball" on Oct. 30, 2004. Since then, the Titans have posted wins over Point Loma (three times), Biola (twice), Cal Poly Pomona, and Cal State Los Angeles.

BIOLA BRIEFLY: The Eagles return seven letter winners and two starters off of last season's squad that finished 25-7 overall and 16-4 in the Golden State Athletic Conference... Biola was eliminated in the semifinals of the GSAC tournament, but the Eagles advanced to the NAIA Division I Tournament, earning a No. 9 seed, before being upset by No. 21-seeded William Woods University in the first round of the NAIA Tournament in Jackson, TN... the Eagles lost their top three scorers from a season ago and are led by the senior guard tandem of Emily Drews (7.2 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.53 apg) and Charrise Reece (4.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.00 apg)... former Biola player and assistant coach Bethany Miller is in her first season as head coach of the Eagles, hired as the 10th coach in school history back in May, replacing the departed Ken Crawford, who was named the 2010-11 GSAC Coach of the Year after leading Biola to its third-straight NAIA tournament appearance and a 94-91 record over six seasons -- including a 65-29 mark over the last three years.

SERIES NOTES: Cal State Fullerton leads the all-time series against Biola, 4-0, but the two schools haven't met in an official contest since 1981 as the Titans posted a, 63-56, victory on a neutral floor in Pomona... these two schools last met in an exhibition on Nov. 7, 2009, with Fullerton posting an 81-57 win at Titan Gym... the Titans also defeated the Eagles in an exhibition prior to the 2006-07 season, getting 19 points from Toni Thomas and double-figure performances from both Jasmine Scott (14) and Andrea Adams (11) in a 78-53 victory.

LOOKING AHEAD: Saturday's contest will be the Titans' only action until the middle of November when Fullerton officially opens the season at Sacramento State. The Titans will then make their home debut on Nov. 16 against Pepperdine at Titan Gym.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HOSTS TIP-OFF FUNDRAISER: The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team will host its second-annual "Tip-Off Party and Fundraiser" on Saturday, Nov. 5, at the George G. Golleher Alumni House on campus. Festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. as fans will get the chance to meet with and hear from Head Coach Marcia Foster and the coaching staff as well as members of the 2011-12 Titans' squad. Entertainment will be provided by "The Naked Eye" with lead singer Michelle Barr, a professor of kinesiology at Cal State Fullerton. Prior to the event, fans can get a look at the Titans during an intrasquad scrimmage, open to the public, at 10 a.m. in Titan Gym. Tickets are \$30 for adults and \$15 for students and children. For more information please email the basketball staff at womenbasketball@fullerton.edu or register online for the event by clicking here.

TITANS TABBED FIFTH IN BIG WEST MEDIA POLL: The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball team was picked to finish fifth in the 2011-12 Big West Conference race according to a vote of league media members released by the conference office on Oct. 19. The Titans received 107 points to finish just ahead of Orange County rival UC Irvine, which was sixth with 91 points. Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara each received 11 first-place votes, but the Mustangs finished atop the poll with 200 points overall, just nine points ahead of their Central Coast neighbors. UC Davis, which received two first-place nods, and UC Riverside round out the top four with 169 and 120 points, respectively. Cal State Northridge (73 points) in seventh, Pacific (66 points) in eighth, and Long Beach State (63 points) in ninth finish out the poll.

SO, HOW `BOUT THOSE TITANS?: Cal State Fullerton returns three starters and seven letter winners overall from last season's squad that finished 9-21 overall and 5-11 in the Big West Conference for a seventh-place tie. The Titans were the No. 8 seed in last year's conference tournament, falling to Cal Poly, 73-70, in San Luis Obispo in the first round - snapping a streak of four-straight seasons of advancing to at least the second round of the league tournament. Fullerton returns three of its top four scorers from a season ago, led by senior Megan Richardson, who averaged 14.7 points and 3.8 rebounds per game en route to her second-straight All-Big West First-Team honor. Sophomore Mya Olivier (7.8 ppg, 5.9 rpg, .450 FG%) returns after missing all but eight games due to a season-ending knee injury as does senior guard Lauren Chow, who averaged 7.1 points and 1.9 rebounds while pacing the team with 98 assists.

RICHARDSON EARNS PRESEASON HONORS: Senior guard Megan Richardson was one of six players voted to the league's preseason all-conference team for the second consecutive season, joining other Big West standouts Abby Bloetscher and Kristina Santiago from Cal Poly, Cal State Northridge's Jasmine Erving, UC Riverside's Tre'Shonti Nottingham, and UC Santa Barbara's Emilie Johnson. Richardson, who was also selected as an alternate to represent the United States on this fall's Pan American Games team, tied for third in the league in scoring, ninth in the league in assists (3.00 apg), fourth in free throw percentage (.837), sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.0), and fifth in minutes (32.0 mpg) a season ago.

AN HONOR, INDEED: Richardson's first-team nod in 2011 makes her just the fourth Titan in school history to earn a pair of All-Big West First-Team honors in a career, joining Genia Miller (first-team selection from 1988-91), Claudette Jackson (1990-92), and Toni Thomas (2006-08).

BY THE NUMBERS: Cal State Fullerton returns just 53 percent of its 1,958 points scored, 40 percent of its rebounds, 52 percent of its field goals made, 54 percent of its three-pointers made, 57 percent of its free throws made, 69 percent of its assists, and 56 percent of its steals from a season ago. What does that all mean? We don't know, but numbers are fun.

MILLENIUM WATCH - Lauren Chow: The Titans' redshirt senior is just 49 points away from becoming the 21st player in school history to reach 1,000 career points, entering the 2011-12 campaign with 951 career points. Last season, Megan Richardson and Lyndsey Grove both reached the milestone with standout games against UC Irvine (Jan. 5) and Long Beach State (Jan. 29), respectively. As Chow looks to climb the scoring ladder, she has her sights set on Joey Ray, who ranks 20th on the list with 1,004 career points from 1988-92.

SPEAKING OF POINTS: Richardson needs just two points to pass Marlene Kline (1979-83) for 10th place on the school's all-time scoring list, but would need to nearly double her current career total to match Genia Miller's career record of 2,415 points. Richardson's 1,258 career points are the most for a Titan since Toni Thomas finished with 1,786 career points in 2009.

IRON WOMEN: Chow stands four games away and Richardson is nine games away from playing in 100 career contests -- something only 33 players in the history of the program has accomplished. Last season, Ashley Richie set the all-time record with 122 career games while teammate Lyndsey Grove was right behind her, finishing her career with 119 appearances to both break Genia Miller's previous record of 118 games that had stood since 1991.

THAT'S FRESH: Half of Cal State Fullerton's roster this season will have never stepped on the floor at the Division I level as the Titans welcome seven freshmen to the roster in 2011-12 -- the highest total since the 2009-10 squad featured the same number in a class that included current Titans Mya Olivier, Alicya Crisp, and Lauren Bushong.

TOURNEY TESTED: The Titans will face a schedule loaded with postseason participants in 2011-12 as they will face three (with a fourth possible depending out the outcome in Dallas during Thanksgiving weekend) NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago (Arizona State, Gonzaga, and Big West rival UC Davis) as well as five WNIT teams from 2011 in Nevada, Pepperdine, Cal Poly, UC Riverside, and UC Santa Barbara.

CONFERENCE CALL: Along with their requisite slate of eight home-and-home contests against their Big West Conference bretheren, the Titans will take on a diverse schedule that features four West Coast Conference opponents (Pepperdine, LMU, Gonzaga, and San Francisco), two -- perhaps three -- from the WAC (Nevada, Fresno State, and San Jose State), two from the Big Sky (Sacramento State and Northern Arizona), one from Conference USA (SMU), as well as Division I Independent Cal State Bakersfield. Fullerton may also face an Ohio Valley Conference school in Tennessee State depending on how things shake out at SMU's Thanksgiving Tournament in Dallas.

THE ROAD MOST TRAVELLED: Including this weekend's exhibition, the Titans will play three of their first four games within the friendly confines of Titan Gym. That home court advantage won't last for very long, however, as fans will be hard-pressed to catch Fullerton live locally before the end of the year. Following their game against LMU on Nov. 21, the Titans will compete eight of their next 10 on the road save for home contests against national power Gonzaga (Dec. 2) and Nevada (Dec. 10). The road has been unkind to Fullerton as of late as the Titans were just 3-14 in true road contests last season, having lost their last six straight dating back to a 77-65 win at Long Beach State on Jan. 19.

YOU CAN'T TEACH TALL: This year's Titan squad could be one of the longest in recent memory, featuring six players listed at six-feet or taller -- the tallest Fullerton squad since the 2007-08 squad listed seven players taller than six-foot.

THE STREAK CONTINUES: We know we're tempting fate here, but senior Megan Richardson is on a streak. Richardson enters the 2011-12 season having made her last 22 consecutive free throws dating back to last season, not missing since the second half of the Titans' contest at UC Riverside on Feb. 5, 2011. The Manhattan Beach native shot .837 from the line as a junior last season -- the third-best single-season performance in school history -- and, if her career ended today, her mark of .819 (258-for-315) over the last three seasons would be the program's second-highest mark behind only Lyndsey Grove's school-record .828 (256-for-309) performance from the line from 2007-11.

SEEING RED: Two of the Titans' seven-member freshman class will be redshirting the 2011-12 season. Hailey King and Jessica Palmer will both sit out the year recovering from injuries suffered during their high school careers.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL RACES FOR THE CURE: The Cal State Fullerton women's basketball program raised more than \$1,200 in donations for the Orange County chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, participating in the 20th annual Race for the Cure in Newport Beach on Sept. 25. This year marked the fourth consecutive year that the Titans have run in the event, helping to raise money for breast cancer research. According to the organization's website, it has raised more than \$1.2 million for the cause with a goal of \$3.1 million set for 2011.

BASKETBALL TEAMS UP FOR HOOP STARS CLINIC: The Cal State Fullerton basketball programs hosted a very special clinic with the developmentally disabled basketball players of the Hoop Stars of Orange County. Members of the men's and women's teams as well as the coaching staffs worked together to teach the Hoop Stars the fundamentals of the game with numerous drills before participating in games with the kids on the main floor at Titan Gym. Check out the entire story on the Cal State Fullerton Vimeo page here: http://vimeo.com/28992881. For more information on the Hoop Stars, visit their website at http://hoopstarsbb.com/.