Long Beach State women’s basketball 15-game winning streak was snapped in the season finale after a 65-56 loss against UC Davis Saturday night at the Walter Pyramid.
It’s the team’s first loss since Jan. 7 against UCI; the team that will finish above them in the Big West standings because of Saturday night’s decisive loss.
Unfortunately for The Beach, 17 wins weren’t enough to finish at the top, and UCI’s 16-2 record elevated the Anteaters to the top of the conference.
“They’ve done enough to win this conference regular season,” head coach Jeff Cammon said. “I don’t care what anybody says, you know, we earned it.”
Early struggles in the first quarter put The Beach on the backfoot after the team opened the game shooting just 25%, and allowed the Aggies to go on their largest run of 11 points.
LBSU only hit three baskets in the opening quarter, compare that to the four threes that the Aggies knocked down and the reason behind the early scoreline comes to fruition.
From beyond the arc, UC Davis took over making twelve total threes and shooting a tick above 46% in the game. In the fourth quarter, they shot five threes which proved to be the difference.
“We just had some breakdowns later on you know allowing 14 [Tova Sabel] to have open looks,” Cammon said.
The junior guard Toval Sabel led the way for the Aggies scoring 25 points and shooting an efficient 54.5% from beyond the arc.
For The Beach, it was redshirt senior guard Tori Harris leading the scoring with 13 points. Harris struggled to find her touch in the first half going 1-9 from the field but was a big part of The Beach comeback that fell short shooting 4-8 in the final half.
After the early struggles, LBSU did fight back and led in the fourth quarter after going on a 15-point run and building up a 43-39 lead before allowing the Aggies to score. Once they did score though UC Davis didn’t stop and eventually closed out the contest with a flurry of threes.
“I don’t care about how many points I score, I don’t care about my stats look nice. All I care about is winning,” senior guard Ma’Qhi Berry said.
It was the final game at the Walter Pyramid for the seniors at The Beach, a group of players that like Berry have shared the fuel and passion to win this season; something the team will lean on at the Big West Championship.
The tournament will start for LBSU on Wednesday, as the team matches up with either CSU Fullerton or UC Riverside.