No. 7 seed Long Beach State prevails in a come-from-behind victory to upset No. 3 seed UC Riverside. The Beach caught fire from beyond the arch, making more threes in overtime than in regulation on their way to an 83-75 win in the quarterfinals of the Big West tournament.
Coming off a season-high 90 points in their upset victory against UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday. The Beach picked up right where they left off on the offensive side of the ball, opening the game on a 13-2 run, with their largest lead of the first quarter hitting 15 at one point.
Long Beach State dominated the offensive boards, grabbing eight offensive rebounds in the opening frame to help take an 11-point lead at the end of the first.
The lead would evaporate quickly at the hands of the Highlanders’ sophomore guard Makayla Jackson, hitting back-to-back threes during a 12-0 UCR run. Jackson would finish as the game’s leading scorer with 25 points, 15 coming in the first half and giving UC Riverside the lead at halftime.
Long Beach State’s offense would struggle in the second quarter, unable to convert from deep. The Beach shot just 1-11 (9%) from three in the first half, to go along with eight turnovers to help UCR reinsert themselves back into the game.
Junior guard Patricia Chung would open up the second half with back-to-back threes of her own to get The Beach offense back on track. The third quarter saw the two teams trade buckets on both ends in a game with 11 ties and 12 lead changes, giving us a 53-53 tie with one quarter left.
UCR would start the fourth on their own 5-0 run to open up their largest lead of the game, but would again be met with a strong response from Chung and freshman forward Jada Crawshaw with 17 points off the bench.
The Highlanders would ride the hot hands of their backcourt mates; Jackson and senior guard Jordan Webster, combining for 13 of the team’s 16 fourth-quarter points.
With under two minutes remaining, Webster and Crawshaw would trade baskets, each connecting on transition threes and layups to even the score at 69-69.
UCR would hold for the final possession, getting the ball into the hot hands of Webster, where she would be met by All-Big West Defensive team junior guard Sydney Woodley, who’d come up with her game-high fifth steal to send the game into overtime.
An extra five minutes would be all The Beach needed to secure their second upset win in as many days, jumping out to an 8-0 run to begin the extra period. Triples from Chung, Woodley, and junior guard Savannah Tucker would expand the lead to 80-71, with two minutes left.
LBSU would hold on and win by a final score of 83-75, setting up a date with No. 2 seed UC Irvine with a trip to the Big West Championship on the line Friday in Henderson.