The Long Beach State women’s basketball team defeated UC Irvine 71-61 behind sophomore shooting guard Lauren Spargo’s season-high 16 points on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid.
LBSU has now won two in a row after dropping three straight games and has improved to 11-8 overall and 4-3 in the Big West conference.
Spargo connected on three 3-pointers and sophomore point guard Alex Sanchez added 13 points, three assists and seven rebounds. Sophomore center Devin Hudson displayed another strong performance down low with 12 points and seven boards.
The 49ers trailed the Anteaters 53-50 with less than 10 minutes remaining, but they ended the game on a 21-8 run to get the win. Sanchez put in a clutch performance to lead the ‘Niners down the stretch with eight points in the last 5:42.
“Our toughness came through today,” 49er head coach Jody Wynn said after the game. “Being mentally and physically tough was big for us.”
Wynn added that winning the rebound battle (37-29 in favor of The Beach) was the key to her team’s victory.
“We did a really good job on the boards,” she said. “Our number one focus coming in to the game was to control the boards.”
The Anteaters, still looking for their first win in conference play, got off to a strong start and held a 28-22 lead with 3:11 left in the first half. The Beach, however, rallied back with a 12-5 run to end the half thanks to Spargo, who notched eight points in the last three minutes.
In a game that saw 14 lead changes, UCI regained its lead at 38-86 three minutes into the second half with Methlyn Onogomuho’s jumper. Another midrange jumper by Onogomuho and a pair of converted free throws by Kelly Meggs extended the Anteaters’ lead to four at the 12:27 mark.
Anete Klintsone’s 3-pointer put the Anteaters back up by three with 10 minutes to go, but the ‘Niners regained their lead after Hudson converted two free throws and Jade Wilson hit a jumper.
The 49ers maintained their lead for the remainder of the game, as Sanchez poured in eight points to hold off the resilient Anteaters.
After struggling in shooting in recent games, the ‘Niners shot 48.1 percent from the field. They also outscored UCI 34-18 in the paint, thanks in large to contributions from Hudson and Wilson.
“We wanted to win the battle in the paint,” Wynn said. “We were able to do that, while making nine threes. Usually, when we make nine threes, all you see is us shooting threes, but today the shot selection was good and we were still able to get the ball into the paint.”
Up next for LBSU is a road game at UC Davis on Thursday at 7 p.m.