CSUN Women's Hoops Downs UC Irvine

IRVINE, Calif. -- The CSUN women's basketball team (4-16, 2-4 Big West Conference) defeated UC Irvine 83-64 Thursday night in a Big West Conference game at the Bren Events Center. Freshman Channon Fluker, the reigning Big West Player of the Week, produced her third career double-double by posting a career-high 33 points to go with 13 rebounds.

After battling traffic on the trip down to the Orange County, the Matadors fell behind 5-0 early. From there, CSUN scored at will through Fluker, who finished 15-of-22 from the field to set a new career high for field goals. She had 18 points and eight rebounds in the first half alone.

Sophomore Serafina Maulupe was the second Matador to finish in double-figures, scoring 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Junior Emily Cole grabbed a career-high eight rebounds to go with eight points. Sophomore Tessa Boagni came off the bench to finish with eight points and eight rebounds.

For the game, CSUN shot a season-high 52.4 percent (33-of-63) from the field and 50 percent (4-of-8) from 3-point range. Having struggled at the free throw line lately, CSUN finished 13-of-16 (81.3 percent) from the charity stripe. The Matadors also held a sizeable advantage on the glass, 54-30, and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds to UC Irvine's 16 defensive rebounds.

After the early deficit, CSUN clawed its way back and eventually took a 25-22 by the end of the frame. Boagni scored all eight of her points and Fluker had 12 in the opening 10 minutes. In the second period, CSUN took an eight-point lead with 5:24 left in the half on a jumper from Maulupe. With the score 40-34 in CSUN's favor, the Anteaters got hit with a pair of technical fouls. Sophomore Katelin King made all four free throws and added a 3-pointer to lift CSUN to a 50-39 halftime lead.

In the second half, CSUN continued to extend its lead despite the Anteaters' best efforts. UCI got to within eight points with a little more than eight minutes to play in the third period. From there, CSUN went on an 11-5 run to close the frame and take a 69-55 lead after 30 minutes of action. The Matadors out-scored the Anteaters 14-9 in the fourth period.

The Matadors overcame 28 turnovers in the game which resulted in 26 points for the Anteaters. Behind Fluker, CSUN held a 44-20 advantage in points in the paint. CSUN's bench finished with 32 points from its bench. The win was CSUN's largest of the season and gives the Matadors consecutive wins for the first time this season.

CSUN returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 30 wiith a home contest against Cal State Fullerton. Tip off from The Matadome is slated for 4 p.m.

Players Mentioned

Tessa Boagni

Emily Cole

Channon Fluker

Katelin King

Serafina Maulupe