Find out where your favorite Long Beach teams are playing this week…
THURSDAY
High School Girls’ Soccer
The Moore League championship will be decided on the last day of the regular season as second-place Long Beach Poly takes on first-place Millikan at Veterans Memorial Stadium at 5 p.m. The game was originally scheduled at Millikan High, but the rain has made the field unplayable.
Millikan hasn’t won a share of the league title since 1991, and hasn’t won it outright since 1985. The Rams beat Poly 2-1 earlier this month. In other league action, Wilson is hosting Cabrillo while Lakewood travels to Jordan.
High School Girls’ & Boys’ Basketball, 5 & 6:30 p.m.
Today is also the last day of the regular season for local high school basketball as both Poly teams look to wrap up their undefeated Moore League titles at Jordan. In other action, Millikan is hosting Cabrillo while Lakewood travels to Compton. It’s very likely that the Wilson and Compton girls’ teams will end up tied for the fourth and final automatic playoff bid out of the league. If that’s the case, they’ll have a tie-breaking playoff game on Friday.
Moore League Wrestling Finals, 5 p.m.
The best high school wrestlers in the city will be at Wilson this evening for the Moore League individual finals. Millikan won the team title for the eighth consecutive year earlier this month, and the Rams are favorites again tonight.
Long Beach State Men’s Volleyball at Lindenwood, 5 p.m.
The No. 1-ranked LBSU squad will be in St. Charles, Mo., all weekend for three games in three days against Lindenwood, Quincy and McKendree. This is the last road trip outside of California for the Beach until the Big West Conference Tournament in Hawaii.
Long Beach State Men’s Basketball at Hawaii, 9 p.m.
LBSU is making the long midweek road trip to Hawaii (12-7, 3-2) this week where Long Beach Poly alum Drew Buggs is leading the Rainbow Warriors attack. The sophomore guard is averaging 8.9 points, 5.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.
Long Beach State Women’s Basketball at UC Davis, 6 p.m.
The women’s basketball team is also on the road this week for a showdown with first-place UC Davis. The Aggies (13-6, 5-1) have won four straight games, and senior forward Morgan Bertsch leads the Big West with 23.8 points per game.
Last week, LBSU (5-13, 2-3) suffered a pair of conference games at home to CSUN and UC Riverside. Sophomore forward Naomi Hunt averaged 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds in the two games, while freshman guard Justina King chipped in 11 points per game with eight total assists. The Beach defense is fourth best in the Big West at 57.4 points allowed per conference game.
FRIDAY
Long Beach City College Basketball vs. El Camino, 5 & 7 p.m.
The LBCC men’s team is taking on El Camino first before the women play in the nightcap. This is only the second week of the South Coast Conference schedule.
Last week, the LBCC men (16-4, 1-1) suffered a 94-75 South Coast Conference loss to rival Cerritos. The Vikings are ranked No. 6 in California, and Cerritos is No. 10. LBCC freshman guard Jace Bass scored 21 points with six rebounds and five assists. Jamiu Akinbile chipped in 15 points, 14 rebounds and three steals, and fellow sophomore guard Jordan Heard finished with 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.
The LBCC women (8-12, 1-1) also lost to Cerritos 81-72 in the conference opener last week. Sophomore forward De’Brianna Hampton scored a career-high 27 points for LBCC in the loss. She also had eight rebounds, five assists and three steals. Sophomore guard Kaylin Brown totaled 17 points and had four assists.
SATURDAY
Long Beach State Men’s Basketball vs. UC Irvine, 7 p.m.
LBSU picked up its most impressive win of the season at first-place UC Irvine (5-1, 17-5) on Jan 16, so the Anteaters are looking for some Black & Blue Rivalry revenge. In the 80-70 road win earlier this month, LBSU broke open a 56-56 game with tough play down the stretch. Senior Deishuan Booker scored 24 of his 28 points in the second half, senior Mason Riggins tied his career-high with 14 points and guard Bryan Alberts added 17 points while grabbing a career-high seven rebounds.
Long Beach State Women’s Basketball at CSU Fullerton, 6 p.m.
The Beach and the Titans are both stuck in the middle of the Big West standings, and this week could push both of them to the top or the bottom. Fullerton is one of the best shooting teams in the conference. Senior Daeja Smith leads the Big West with a 55.6% shooting percentage, and her freshman teammate Amiee Book leads the conference with a 47.5% 3-point shooting percentage.
Long Beach State Women’s Tennis vs. San Diego, 11 a.m.
A day after visiting San Diego State, LBSU will return to Rhodes Tennis Center to host San Diego this morning in non-conference action. The Beach is a combined 24-39 all-time against those two San Diego schools. Last week, LBSU (1-0, 1-0) opened its Big West dual match season with a 5-2 win over UC Riverside at Rhodes Tennis Center. Freshman Zara Lennon led a deep LBSU squad by going 2-0 on the day.
CIF Southern Section Playoff Bracket Announcements
Five winter sports will have their playoff brackets announced today and tomorrow. Boys’ soccer, girls’ soccer and girls’ water polo will all have their brackets released Saturday morning. The boys’ and girls’ basketball brackets come out Sunday at noon.
