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 is sponsored by CSULB Distinguished Alumnus Nelson Farris.
In their second home game in three days, the Long Beach State women’s basketball team fell 78-71 to Cal Poly after being down 31-33 at the half, a back and forth battle that resulted in only their second loss in conference this season. LBSU (11-7, 7-2) now sit in second place in the Big West, and the Mustangs (9-10, 4-5) remain in eighth.
“I thought we competed, I thought we matched their energy. I thought we matched their physicality, which we knew was what it was gonna be today,” said LBSU head coach Amy Wright. “We talked a lot about execution, whether that was executing the game plan defensively or executing what we do offensively. I didn’t think we did a great job of that.”
The first quarter commenced with a fruitless initial drive by the Beach and a turnover in their second possession, while Cal Poly was able to score a field goal and then a three pointer. Cal Poly’s stiff defense around the hoop proved to be a challenge for the Beach, as they outshot the Mustangs but didn’t have much to show for it, with the score sitting at 8-2 five minutes in. However, they soon gained a bit of momentum thanks to layups by guards Savannah Tucker and Patricia Chung, taking advantage of turnovers and quickly moving up the court to score. As the buzzer sounded, Cal Poly scored again to bring the score to 18-17, the Beach hanging onto a one point lead.
Cal Poly quickly took the lead back in the second quarter with three baskets within three minutes to make the score 18-23. Nevertheless, the Beach were able to surge back, largely thanks to forward Rachel Loobie, who was their top scorer on the day with a total of 13 points. Loobie landed a pair of big shots to bring the score to 22-27 with five minutes left in the half, and forward Kennan Ka scored a beautiful three-pointer, followed by two free throws from Loobie, tying up the game. Despite entering the bonus due to Cal Poly’s five fouls, the Beach ended the half trailing 33-31.
Wright knew that her team had work to do to turn things around in their favor in the second half. “We don’t really change up a lot of what we do on offense. We emphasize actions that will work against other teams,” she said. “I thought we kind of sometimes went on islands and wanted to do our own thing instead of working together, so I think in the execution part offense and defense is kind of hard for us in the end.”
Both teams scored quickly to open up the second half, and back-to-back three-pointers by Loobie and Ka notched the scoreboard at 43-42. In the final minute of the 3rd quarter, with the score at 50-50, Cal Poly forward Sierra Lichtie scored a layup and point guard Annika Shah landed a 3 pointer, bringing the score to 50-55 and giving the Beach even more work to do in the final ten minutes of the game. Shah was Cal Poly’s top scorer on the day, putting 24 points up on the board for the Mustangs, and Lichtie contributed 17 of her own.
The fourth quarter opened up with a quick score from each team. After a basket by Savannah Tucker, LBSU had cut their deficit to 56-59, but two Cal Poly scores in a row brought the score to 56-63 with six minutes on the clock. The Beach landed a shot after a missed free throw, but their prospects of victory were looking dire with the scoreboard reading 60-68 and four minutes remaining. Even so, the Beach refused to go down without a fight.
With 24 seconds left, the tension between the Big West powerhouses in the Goldmine was palpable, as LBSU brought the score to a tight 70-72 thanks to two free throws. However, the Mustangs were able to hang on and scored three more times as time expired, with a final score of 71-78 to add a much needed win to their record.
Freshman guard JaQuoia Jones-Brown was the Beach’s next highest scorer after Loobie, with 12 points overall. Jones-Brown was proud of the effort and the way she was able to contribute to her team, but knows that they are capable of more.
“I learned that sometimes you just gotta take control and be a leader, because sometimes you just have to be that one person who steps up no matter your class,” she said. “And even though I’m a freshman, I feel like today I did good, I led them. I had energy and they fed off me. But I just feel like as a team, once one person goes down, we just have to be there to pick each other up.”
Echoing her coach’s sentiments in terms of her team’s gameplay overall, she added, “We just have to do a better job at executing. We had a game plan. We didn’t stick to it, but at the end of the day, I feel like we put up a hard fight.”
The Beach took the court against Cal Poly less than forty eight hours after defeating Cal State Northridge 88-75 in a hard fought battle after trailing by 13 points at halftime. These intense games in back to back succession proved to be disadvantageous for the Beach, as their cohesiveness as a team seemed to be a bit off.
“We gotta do a better job of preparing, I’ll put that on me,” Wright said. “I thought we had a good game plan. I thought we were ready to execute it. One day turn around is tough, but that’s what it is in the Big West. They have all week to prepare for you. We got one day to prepare for them.”
In spite of this, Wright retains an optimistic outlook, knowing that her team is capable of competing with any squad in the Big West. “We still have a target on our back, we’re still up there. We’re still in the top four of the conference,” she said. “Nobody’s gonna make it easy for us. We just gotta realize we gotta come to work with a hard hat every day and take it one day at a time and continue to focus on us. I think most times when we do lose, it’s us beating ourselves.”
Before today’s game, LBSU and UC Irvine were tied atop the conference standings with 7-1 records in the Big West. The Anteaters (13-5, 7-1) have a chance to boost their lead during their match against third place Hawaii tonight, and the Beach will travel to Irvine for a crucial matchup on January 30. Their next home game is on February 1 against UCSB, and they face Cal Poly again on March 8.
