The Long Beach State women’s basketball team paid homage to its illustrious history on a Friday night it would probably like to otherwise forget.
The 49ers — who honored former LBSU legend and WNBA general manager Penny Toler — had no answer for Seattle University’s full court pressure. LBSU committed a season-worst 36 turnovers in a 73-54 nonconference blowout at the Walter Pyramid.
“It was a humiliating effort,” 49ers head coach Jody Wynn said. “We’re gonna measure this game based on toughness, heart, playing together and just not getting out-worked on our home floor.
“And I thought we got out-worked from the opening tip to the end of the game.”
Senior forward Courtney Jacob paced the ‘Niners with a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds, but committed eight turnovers. Sendy Valles — who also registered eight turnovers — added 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds, but shot just 5-of-16 from the field.
Meanwhile, leading scorer Brandi Henton was held to just two points on 1-of-6 shooting in 11 minutes of play for The Beach (5-19).
The duo of Elle Kerfoot and Salena Dickerson led the way for Seattle (6-17) with 13 points apiece on a combined 9-of-22 from the field. Kerfoot also added a team-high five rebounds and five assists, while Daidra Brown posted nine points and a whopping eight steals.
Former LBSU head coach Joan Bonvicini, now a second-year head coach for Seattle, received a welcoming round of applause during pre-game introductions.
LBSU jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after Jacob banked in a shot from beyond the arc. However, the Redhawks responded with an 11-0 run that was sparked by three consecutive 3s.
Tipesa Moorer finally stifled the run with an easy lay-in, but not before The Beach committed eight turnovers during an eight-minute scoring drought.
The Redhawks went up by as many as 15 with 4:03 remaining in the period before the 49ers outscored Seattle, 11-7, down the stretch to cut the deficit to 33-22 at the half.
The Niners came out stagnant to start the second period and were only able to pull to within nine, 35-26, after a baseline jumper from Moorer with just over two minutes gone by.
From there, Seattle answered with a 12-2 run capped by back-to-back jumpers from Dickerson with just under 12 minutes remaining.
In that five-minute span, the ‘Niners were held scoreless and couldn’t find a way to break the Redhawks’ press, which forced LBSU to throw one bad pass after another.
“[Seattle’s] speed and athleticism really rattled our guards,” Wynn said. “We didn’t have good point guard play tonight, which forced us to play out of position and it hurt us.”
Despite out-rebounding the Redhawks, 57-35, the ‘Niners shot a disappointing 30.8 percent from the field (20 for 65) to Seattle’s 45.5 percent (25 for 55).
The Beach will return to Big West Conference play Wednesday as they play host to Cal State Northridge. Tipoff at the Walter Pyramid is slated for 7 p.m.
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