The Long Beach State women’s basketball team fell on the receiving end of yet another second-half shooting slump Saturday. Except this time, the 49ers shot a season-worst 16 percent for the period in a 61-48 loss to Cal Poly at Mott Gym in San Luis Obispo.
The ‘Niners (8-21, 6-9 Big West Conference) dropped to sixth-place in the conference standings and are out of contention to host a first-round match-up in the Big West Tournament.
Meanwhile, Cal Poly (16-10, 12-3 Big West) remained in first place and clinched a share of the Big West regular-season title for the first time in school history.
Down 33-32 to start the second half, the ‘Niners missed their first 13 shots and committed nine turnovers, prompting a 16-4 run for the Mustangs.
Freshman Ella Clark would connect on LBSU’s first field goal of the half to cut the deficit to 10, but not until 13:26 had gone by in the period. Until then, The Beach’s only points came from back-to-back pairs of free throws from Courtney Jacob and Clark.
From there, Cal Poly answered with a 9-0 burst ignited by a baseline 3 from Ashlee Burns, pushing its lead out 19 — its largest of the contest.
The 49ers cut the Mustangs’ lead to 13, but would get no closer.
Jacob paced The Beach with nine points and 11 rebounds, but shot just 3-of-17 from the field and committed a game-high seven turnovers. Clark and Tipesa Moorer added eight points apiece, while Brandi Henton and Sendy Valles chipped in seven each on a combined 5-of-21 shooting.
Meanwhile, Rachel Clancy led the way for the Mustangs with 24 points on 11-for-20 from the field. Teammate Abby Bloetscher added 16 on a stellar 7-of-10 shooting.
The 49ers finished with a dismal 25.4 percent shooting from the field (16 of 63), while Cal Poly shot 45 percent (27 of 60).
LBSU also registered 22 turnovers to the Mustangs’ 17, which translated into a 23-15 advantage in points off turnovers for Cal Poly.
The ‘Niners jumped out to an early 7-2 lead after a corner 3 from Melanie Lisnock with just under two minutes gone by. However, it was short-lived when the Mustangs responded with a 17-0 run keyed by Clancy, who buried four of six shots in that span.
LBSU eventually ended the 10-minute drought with a fastbreak layup from Alyssa Starkey, but not before committing nine turnovers and missing 12 consecutive shots.
Trailing 29-18 with 2:05 remaining before halftime, the 49ers clawed back with a 14-4 surge highlighted by consecutive 3s from Henton and a putback from Jacob. That cut the deficit to 33-32 at the break.
The Beach will conclude its three-game road trip and the regular season against UC Riverside on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
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