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Cal State Fullerton women fall to Hawaii in OT in Big West quarterfinal

March 12, 2026

When the tank finally went dry for the Cal State Fullerton women’s basketball team on Thursday afternoon, there wasn’t even a trickle left to get across the finish line.

The fifth-seeded Titans were shut out in overtime of their 72-61 loss to fourth-seeded Hawaii in a Big West Tournament quarterfinal at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev.

“Hawaii dialed in and did what they needed to do,” Fullerton coach John Bonner said. “Sometimes, it’s just how it happens. The ball just doesn’t fall your way.”

Hawaii (21-10) will play top-seeded UC Irvine (26-5) in the first semifinal on Friday at noon PT.

Before the Titans (18-14) were blanked in overtime, they had done the same to the Rainbow Wahine, holding them scoreless for nearly seven minutes at the start of the fourth quarter while turning a five-point deficit into a five-point lead with 3½ minutes remaining.

Playing for the second time in 24 hours, Fullerton’s engine had already started to sputter, however.

Talia Maxwell hit a 3-pointer seven seconds into the fourth quarter for the Titans, but that was the last field goal they made.

They survived by going 11 for 12 from the free-throw line the rest of the fourth quarter, the last two by Dylan Swindle with 53 seconds left to tie it at 61-61, but those were Fullerton’s final points of the game.

“We just didn’t execute,” Bonner said. “We wanted to get to the rim. We had some turnovers to start (overtime). From there, we took a couple bad shots and I think Hawaii dialed in and did what they needed to do. They kind of limited us to one or none opportunities.”

Cristina Jones, who led the Titans to an 80-65 victory over eighth-seeded Cal State Northridge in the first round on Wednesday by totaling 32 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and five steals, struggled against Hawaii’s defense.

She finished with nine points on 2-for-20 shooting from the floor, though she did contribute 12 rebounds and seven steals.

The Titans, who had 28 offensive rebounds and forced 28 turnovers against CSUN, put up similar numbers against Hawaii, finishing with 22 offensive rebounds and forcing 21 turnovers.

Maxwell led Fullerton with 13 points off the bench, Swindle scored 12 points and Nicole Steiner had 11, but she was slowed with second-half foul trouble.

The Titans shot 26.4% from the field, similar to what they shot (26.8%) in a 67-49 loss in Honolulu on Feb. 28.

Steiner, the third-leading scorer for Fullerton (10.1 ppg), also struggled with foul trouble in that game.

“This experience is going to help prepare them to know what it takes to not only get to this point, but also put themselves in a better position so that we can just perform at a higher level and maybe get to the semis or the finals going into next season,” Bonner said.

Hawaii scored the first five points of the game and made six of its first eight shots to pull out to a 14-7 lead.

The Rainbow Wahine left Jones open on the perimeter and she made a set shot from above the free-throw line to cut it to 16-12 before Swindle made her second 3-pointer of the opening quarter to cap an 8-2 run and pull the Titans within one at 16-15.

Swindle hit another pull-up jumper to cut it to 20-17 and that score remained heading into the second quarter.

Hawaii stretched its lead back out to nine points in the second quarter before the Titans got 3-pointers off the bench from Lilliana Petersen and Madelynn Muniz in the final 2:31 of the quarter to get within 36-31 at halftime.

Steiner scored off an offensive rebound to cap an 8-0 run and move the Titans into a tie for the first time at 39-39 with 6:47 left in the third quarter, but Hawaii came back with a 10-0 run of its own to take the biggest lead of the game at 49-39 with 2:35 left in the third.

Steiner picked up her fourth foul with 1:42 left in the third and checked back out, but the Titans were able to cut the 10-point lead in half by the start of the fourth.

Bailey Flavell led four Hawaii players in double figures with 14 points.

Orange County Register

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Cal State Fullerton women fall to Hawaii in OT in Big West quarterfinal

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