The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2023-24 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach State basketball for the 2023-24 season is sponsored by Nelson Farris.
The Long Beach State women’s basketball team dropped a hard-fought Big West game against visiting Cal Poly, sending the Beach a game under .500 at 6-7 overall and 1-2 in conference. After a disastrous second quarter that saw Long Beach held to five points with no made field goals, the Beach was able to fight their way back to take an early lead in the third quarter. But Cal Poly quickly retook the lead and Long Beach was unable to come back in a frustrating 64-56 defeat.
“They had a really good gameplan defensively,” said LBSU coach Amy Wright. “They switched it up and showed a (defense) we hadn’t seen on film. They did a good job getting us out of our flow…I think it comes down to self-inflicted wounds with turnovers and missed layups. They executed when they needed to.”
Wright’s vision when she took over at Long Beach State was a high-paced and potent offense, but in recent defeats the Beach has had tough stretches on offense like tonight’s second quarter, which saw the team go 0/10 from the field. Wright said after the game she still likes the philosophy of the high-paced offense, but needs her team to execute it better.
“I still believe in it, I think the pace works,” she said. “For me, I look at the shots–were they good shots, or were they poor shots? Four of the 10 were open layups. We were getting to the free throw line so we were attacking–make those open layups and that’s a 13 point quarter, that’s a major shift in the game.”
The Beach led 18-16 after the first quarter thanks to a great start from Casey Valenti-Paea, who had seven of her 12 points in the opening frame. But the Mustangs brought it to the Beach with physical defense in the second quarter, and Long Beach struggled to respond. Their 0/10 shooting performance included six missed 3-pointers, and was only mitigated by five made free throws. Still, they lost the quarter 13-5 and trailed by six points at halftime.
In the third, the Beach opened with a 10-0 run as Savannah Tucker got hot from deep, making two 3-pointers en route to her team-high 13 point performance. But from that point, Cal Poly outscored the Beach 11-3 in the third and took a narrow 39-36 lead into the fourth quarter.
The final 10 minutes were eventful, as the two teams nearly matched their first half scoring in the fourth. The Beach cut the lead to 42-41 on and and-one by Valenti-Paea, and again cut the lead to one one back-to-back free throws by Tucker but they never were able to tie it up. Cal Poly’s Annika Shah took over from the mid-range (18 points) and Natalia Ackerman continued to dominate inside (18 points, keying a 36-20 paint scoring advantage for the Mustangs).
Patricia Chung hit some big shots late to keep it close, but the Mustangs made enough free throws to keep the Beach at bay.
Cal Poly scored 17 points off 25 Long Beach State turnovers and shot 23/54 from the field, but just 3/17 from 3-point range. The Beach was 18/50 from the field and 5/19 from 3-point range, with just eight assists against 25 turnovers.
Long Beach State will try to rebound on the road Saturday as they travel to UC Riverside at 6 p.m. Cal Poly remains undefeated in the Big West at 3-0 and will visit UCSB on Saturday.
