The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2024-25 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach State Basketball is sponsored by CSULB Distinguished Alumnus Nelson Farris.
There were plenty of opportunities for Long Beach State women’s basketball to come back and beat UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at Walter Pyramid, and that’s what made the 77-68 Big West Conference loss all the more frustrating.
“We dug ourselves a hole several times and we still had a chance at the end with free throws,” LBSU coach Amy Wright said. “We won a lot of the battles but it boiled down to fouls and free throws.”
UC Santa Barbara made 28 of its 36 free throw attempts while LBSU missed half of its 22 attempts from the charity stripe. The Beach was 4-of-12 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.
LBSU (11-9, 7-4) also struggled shooting the ball in its return to Walter Pyramid. The Beach shot 35 percent from the field and only made five of 25 shots from 3-point range. They also had 22 offensive rebounds but only turned those into 21 second-chance points.
“There were a few shots that were out of our comfort zone,” said Savannah Tucker, who scored a game-high 27 points for LBSU. “That comes down to us getting extra reps. As basketball players we have to be ready to make adjustments. We got open shots, we just have to knock them down.”
“We were missing layups on the break and we needed those,” Wright added. “You’ve got to finish when you get the ball under the rim.”
LBSU forward Rachel Loobie had a double-double with 10 points and game-high 14 rebounds. Point guard Patricia Chung chipped in 12 points while dishing out a game-high six assists.
UCSB (12-9, 6-5) got a stellar performance from guard Skylar Burke who scored a team-high 25 points while pulling down 11 rebounds, providing three assists and grabbing two steals. The junior guard made all nine of her field goal attempts while also drawing 13 fouls.
LBSU took an early lead thanks in part to four UCSB turnovers in the first four minutes. Loobie got the Beach on the board with an And-1 offensive rebound, then on defense she stole the ball on the perimeter and played it up to Mykelle Richards for an easy finish. Two possessions later Loobie made a cut down the baseline and Richards found her with a nice bounce pass.
The Beach was up 9-3 when the Gauchos went on a 7-0 run sparked by Burke’s ability to get into the paint. A 3-pointer from Jessica Grant extended the visitors lead and UCSB was up 31-19 headed to the second quarter.
LBSU started the game by missing its first 11 shots from 3-point range while UCSB scored 14 points off turnovers to pad its lead. The Gauchos led by as many as 17 points in the first half.
Tucker used consecutive buckets to keep LBSU in it just before halftime, but UCSB and Burke seemed to answer everything with a bucket of their own. The Gauchos shot 63 percent from the field in the second quarter and led 46-33 at the break.
The UCSB lead hung around 10 points for most of the second half. A great cut to the basket by Jade Crawshow cut the lead to 46-38 early in the third quarter, but after a UCSB timeout, Jessica Grant drilled a 3-pointer for the Gauchos.
Late in the fourth quarter, Tucker’s steal and coach-to-coast layup made it 67-57 as the Beach called timeout to set up the full court press. Richards came up with the steal LBSU needed, and Crawshow eventually drew a foul on that possession, but she missed both free throws.
Richards grabbed the offensive rebound, and the ball ended up with Chung on the baseline. She made a hard drive to the basket where she was called for offensive charging.
LBSU got to within eight in the final minutes but UCSB went 10-for-12 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter to maintain its lead and hold on for the win.
“As a team, we get frustrated,” Wright said. “We have to get better collectively in terms of controlling our emotions. We’ve got to be stronger. No official is going to bail us out and no team is going to have mercy on us. We just have to be better and understand (how) to finish.”
LBSU visits UC Davis and CSUN this coming week.
