Ramos Scores 23 As CSUN Defeats UC Riverside 60-55

NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—Claudia Ramos tied her career high with 23 points to lead CSUN past UC Riverside 60-55 in Big West Conference women's basketball action Saturday night at the Matdome.

The Matadors opened the game on an 11-3 run and led 16-9 after one quarter of play. CSUN took its largest lead of the game, 23-13, on a Channon Fluker layup 1:12 into the second. Four straight Skyler Lewis ignited a 12-0 UCR run that tied the game with just under four minutes to play in the first half. A Ramos three-pointer in the final minute of the opening frame would help CSUN take a 30-31 lead into halftime.

A Ramos three-pointer early in the third quarter kick started a 7-0 CSUN spurt to earn the Matadors a 41-34 lead. Play would be even over the next five minutes as UC Riverside closed to 46-45 on a Lauren Holt layup. Eliza Matthews responded with a jumper that was followed by a Hayley Tanabe field goal as CSUN would lead by four (50-46) after three quarters.

Both teams only made three field goals in the final quarter as both teams played tight defense. CSUN led 56-51 coming out of the media timeout. Holt made the second and final Highlanders' three at the 3:14 mark before Fluker made 1-of-2 free throws a little over a minute later. The Matadors remained in the lead by three for the next two minutes before Michelle Curry connected on 1-of-2 free throws with 47 seconds remaining.

CSUN called a timeout and drained the 30 second shot clock down to two before Ramos, a right-handed guard, used a drop step in the post to record a left-handed layup to make it 59-55 with 19 seconds to go. After a UCR timeout, Lewis got the ball and went for a three-pointer that missed and went out of bounds. CSUN called timeout. Ramos was fouled on the inbounds. She made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to make it the final 60-55.

CSUN held UCR to 32.1% (21-of-65) shooting for the game while the Matadors were limited by the Highlanders to 38.1% (24-of-63) from the field. CSUN outrebounded UCR 47-41, scoring 21 second chance points, compared to 11 for UC Riverside.

Ramos was 8-of-13 from the field and tied her career high with six three-pointers (in nine attempts). Fluker tied her season low with only nine field goal attempts, but the 6-4 center was 7-of-9 from the field. She recorded her 43rd career double-double (10th of the season) with 16 points and 16 rebounds. She also blocked three shots. Holt paced UC Riverside (6-14, 3-3 Big West) with 17 points. Lewis tallied a double-double of 10 points and 12 rebounds while Curry scored 12.

"It was a defensive battle that saw both teams make a series of adjustments," said CSUN head coach Jason Flowers. "Our kids showed some toughness down the stretch. Riverside did a good job and made a run. But we answered the bell. Claudia made a big bucket down the stretch when we needed it. We got some key stops, but we need to be more disciplined on the defensive end. We fouled some jump shooters at the end and that shouldn't happen."

"If we go into a game and Channon gets only nine attempts from the field and we win, that means other people stepped up and carry the load and that's what happened tonight," Flowers continued. "We will go back to work on Monday and get ready for another challenge at Hawai'i. They will be ready to go and back to the drawing board once again."

CSUN (10-9, 3-2 Big West) heads to Hawai'i (8-11, 1-5 Big West) Thursday night. Tip on BigWest.tv is set for 9 p.m. (PT).

~www.GoMatadors.com~

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Team Stats

Claudia Ramos

Channon Fluker

Hayley Tanabe

Meghann Henderson

Players Mentioned

Channon Fluker

Eliza Matthews

Claudia Ramos

Hayley Tanabe