The Long Beach State women’s basketball team split its set of road games, losing to UC Santa Barbara, 80-69, on Thursday and following it with a commanding win against reigning Big West champion Cal Poly on Saturday, 85-72.
The Beach (14-10, 6-5 Big West) was unable to dig itself out of a hole against the Gauchos, giving UCSB (7-16, 2-8 Big West) its second win in conference play while the 49ers knocked the Mustangs off their high horse. Cal Poly (14-10, 8-3 Big West) is now sitting at second behind Cal State Northridge.
“Our complete mindset, our mentality, our attitude, our heart, our togetherness was completely different than Thursday night,” head coach Jody Wynn said. “Credit those young women for a great practice and an incredible focus yesterday in preparation for this game and not allowing one game to destroy our confidence.”
At the Thunder Dome on Thursday, the ‘Niners shot 8-for-21 in the first half and finished the night with 22 turnovers compared to the Gauchos’ 11.
UCSB started things off on a 11-0 run in the first two minutes, eventually turning it into a 24-6 run that lasted until the 10:58 mark. The 49ers turned the ball over seven times in the first four minutes and they went into the half down 39-23.
The size of the Gauchos’ lead fluctuated, but it never went away entirely. The ‘Niners finished with only 10 points in the paint and just six second chance points.
Two days later, the 49ers played a Cal Poly team that they lost to 107-102 at the Walter Pyramid a month ago. However, it was an entirely differently game, with the 49ers in control for its entirety.
“It stung,” Wynn said. “We played good offense at our place and battled to get that game in overtime but that loss certainly stung and it set deep in our hearts and our kids were ready to go today. They were extremely focused and played with a tremendous amount of heart.”
A week removed from celebrating her 22nd birthday at the Walter Pyramid, co-captain Ella Clark stepped up with a career night in which she scored a career-high 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting and tied a career high with four steals. Fellow co-captain Hallie Meneses also shouldered much of the load by matching her career-best 19 points on just seven shots to go along with eight assists.
“The two of them were extremely productive, and I’m just really proud of the two of them for stepping up and not allowing our team’s morale to just get in the tank after we didn’t play well at all on Thursday,” Wynn said.
The 49ers defense kept the Mustangs production to three players: big woman Molly Schlemer, guard Ariana Elegado and Jonae Ervin. Besides their 39 points combined, the ‘Niners held Cal Poly to 4-for-23 shooting.
The 49ers had almost as many points in the paint as that trio had in the game, with 36 on the night.
The 49ers will return to the friendly confines of the Walter Pyramid on Thursday for a game against UC Davis. The last time the teams met, the 49ers erased a double-digit deficit at halftime but lost in the final seconds, 63-60.
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