After returning from a four-game road stretch, you would think the Long Beach State women’s basketball team would be confident in playing in front of its home crowd at the Walter Pyramid.
Unfortunately for the 49ers (3-17, 1-6 Big West Conference), it didn’t appear that way Wednesday as they shot a dismal 33.8 percent (25-of-74) from the field in a 77-65 loss to Cal State Fullerton.
Meanwhile, the Titans (7-12, 3-4 Big West) shot a respectable 46.2 percent (30-of-65), but were out-rebounded by the ‘Niners, 46-39.
“You can’t win too many games shooting that poorly, unless you’re going to be lock-down defenders,” LBSU head coach Jody Wynn. “[CSUF] did a really good job capitalizing on every defensive breakdown I felt like we had, and they made timely baskets.”
Indeed, the Titans made several timely shots throughout the contest. However, none were more clutch than when Megan Richardson and Lyndsey Grove drained back-to-back 3-pointers with just over a minute remaining in the game to seal the 12-pont victory.
Richardson connected on the first blow when she buried an uncontested 3 from the right corner to extend the Titans’ lead to nine before Grove delivered the knockout with a straightaway from long distance.
“[CSUF] moved the ball really well offensively and all those kids can actually shoot the ball,” Wynn said. “They have two really good stars and one phenomenal player, I think, in Richardson.”
After trailing by 10 with 3:04 left to play, The Beach’s last run at a comeback came after Courtney Jacob scored four unanswered points, including a put-back shot of her own miss to cut the deficit, 65-59.
Jacob led the way for LBSU with her second double-double of the season with 15 points — 13 of which came in the second half — and 11 rebounds.
“I just decided that it was time to be aggressive,” Jacob said of her second-half performance. “I think I was playing a little bit more passive and trying to look for other shots [in the first half] and I knew I needed to step up for my team and figure out a way to get it done.”
Brandi Henton — who leads The Beach in scoring this season — added 11 points but missed 9-of-13 from the field, while Tipesa Moorer scored 10 on just 4-for-11 shooting.
Meanwhile, Richardson paced the Titans with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-16 from the field, while Grove scored 15 and grabbed 9 boards. Lauren Chow added 13 in just 19 minutes of play off the bench.
Despite surrendering nine 3’s, the 49ers committed a season-low 10 turnovers and held a dominant 32-14 advantage in points in the paint.
“By limiting our turnovers tonight, it created a lot more shot opportunities,” Jacob said. “As you can see, we had 74 shot attempts, which we haven’t had in a really long time and by that, we’re getting a lot closer in games.”
The Beach’s first and only lead of the contest came after a 6-0 run that was sparked by a left wing 3 from Moorer with 4:14 left in the first period.
At that point, LBSU held a 30-27 edge before UCSB inserted Richardson back into the lineup after a short rest with 1:40 remaining in the half. From there, she keyed a 9-0 run to close out the half — seven of which she accounted for — that was capped by a 15-foot jumper from the right wing as time expired.
The ‘Niners continue Big West play Saturday when they play host to UC Irvine (11-6, 3-2 Big West) at the Walter Pyramid. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
The last meeting between the two teams resulted in a decisive 77-59 victory for the Anteaters at the Bren Events Center on Jan. 8.
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