The Beach followed up a blowout victory against Biola in the season opener with a 79-57 win against the Nevada Wolfpack on Sunday at the Walter Pyramid.
The depth of The Beach was on full display as four players got scored double figures with sophomore forward Abby Shoff providing a big spark off the bench. She led the way with both a career and team high 18 points on 8-10 shooting from the field.
“I wanted to dominate the [offensive] boards, just rebounds in general, do what I can for this team,” Shoff said. “If I see an opportunity for myself to score I’ll take it, but if there’s a better shot, give it to my teammates.”
Long Beach State was able to overcome a sloppy first quarter where they struggled to shoot the ball to start, going 3-12 from the field. Getting to the free-throw line helped keep them afloat and in striking distance despite the slow start.
The second quarter looked a lot better as The Beach squashed their 25% first quarter field-goal percentage, shooting 45% in the second quarter and taking a 1-point lead into halftime.
LBSU would come out of the half returning to their style of play opening up the quarter on a 9-0 run and extending their lead to as much as nine in the quarter.
“At halftime coach said we needed to pick it up, we looked like we were playing nervous and we were rushing it,” Shoff said. “What we needed to do was stop dribbling as much, and just hone in and stick to our principles.”
The second-half execution for LBSU was critical and ended up being the difference in the game. The Beach once again dominated the paint as they did versus Biola, scoring 44 points in the paint as well as grabbing 49 rebounds.
“We dominated the paint again,” head coach Amy Wright said. “That’s really what we wanted to do was score in the paint, a lot of our shots in the second half, those were layups, which eventually lead to open threes.”
LBSU would bust things wide open in the fourth, outscoring Nevada by 17. Guard Cheyenne Givens was one of the four members of The Beach who got to double figures, adding 13 of LBSU’s 38 bench points.
“We were able to get fluid in the second half, obviously the best quarter shooting 60% was that fourth quarter. I’m excited to see us put four quarters together,” Wright said.
The Beach will embark on a four-game road trip starting Wednesday as they will take on another 2-0 team, Cal Baptist.