Fouls crippled the Matadors in their attempt to fight back against the 49ers in their 63-50 loss on Wednesday night at Long Beach State.

Matadors top scorers Jasmine Erving and Katrina Thompson had four fouls with six minutes left in the game. Erving and Thompson scored 14 and 11 points respectively.

Not only were they the the top scorers, but also they were keys to winning the game, CSUN Head Coach Staci Schulz prior to the event.

Schulz said the Matadors should have the advantage inside against the 49ers, but devoid of their top two post players, it didn’t work out for them.

Even without the foul trouble, the Matadors were behind the entire game, ending the half down 28-16.

The 49ers were hot in the first half, shooting 6-of-8 from behind the 3-point line. Of those, three came from Lauren Sims, who finished the night with 21 points. It was almost d’eacute;j’agrave; vu for Sims, who scored 22 points in the meeting at Northridge on Jan. 17.

The 3-pointers didn’t have anything to do with CSUN’s lack of scoring in the first 20 minutes.

The Matadors shot 6-of-28 in the opening half, missing a lot of close shots. The rim was not in their favor, but Erving managed to fight through it and score seven points. She was the leader in rebounds and scoring in both halves, ending the night one rebound short of a double-double.

With three minutes remaining in the game, the Matadors came within six points of the 49ers at 56-50, the closest they had been since early in the contest. However, shortly after Erving fouled out, the baskets stopped.

Wednesday night’s loss against the 49ers was the Matadors’ fourth straight and could possibly drop them to last place in the Big West Conference. They split the season series with Long Beach State.