Reports From LBSU
The Long Beach State women’s basketball team led wire-to-wire in a 70-61 victory over UC Riverside in its Big West Conference regular season finale Saturday evening at the Student Recreation Center.
With the win, the 49ers clinched the No. 4 seed in the Big West Tournament, beating out UC Santa Barbara by a tiebreaker. The Beach also improved to 13-16 overall and 9-7 in conference play as it completed its first season sweep over the Highlanders since the 2004-05 season.
LBSU shot 49.0 percent from the field, while holding UCR to 38.8 percent. Junior Melanie Lisnock had a career-high 21 points, going 5-of-7 from 3-point range. Senior Karina Figueroa finished with 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds, while classmate Lauren Sims chipped in 16 points.
The Beach raced out to a 15-4 advantage after a jumper by sophomore Tipesa Moorer at the 14:15 mark. UCR then went on a 9-2 run to cut LBSU’s lead to 17-13, but Lisnock nailed a pair of threes to put the 49ers back up by 10. Long Beach State eventually used an 8-2 spurt, capped by a Sims 3-pointer, to take its largest lead of the game at 31-15 with 4:46 remaining.
LBSU was able to maintain its double-digit advantage the rest of the way, going up 38-25 at the break. Sims and Lisnock combined for seven 3-pointers as The Beach shot 61.5 percent (8-for-13) from beyond the arc in the first half.
Long Beach State led by at least nine until a three by Amber Cox brought the Highlanders within seven. UCR continued its run, outscoring LBSU, 16-3, over a four-minute span to trail 59-58 with 3:59 to play, but senior Ally Wade responded with back-to-back 3-pointers to put the 49ers on top, 65-58.
After UC Riverside (14-15, 11-5 BWC) cut the deficit to four, Figueroa completed a three-point play to spark a 5-0 spurt over the final 50 seconds to secure the 70-61 win.
Rheya Neabors led the Highlanders with 17 points, while Alyssa Morris added 16.
Long Beach State will head to Anaheim next week for the Big West Conference Tournament, March 10-13. As the fourth seed, the 49ers receive a first-round bye and will play in the second quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 11.