Reports From LBSU Sports Information Department

Long Beach State (12-16, 8-7 BWC) at
UC Riverside (14-14, 11-4 BWC)
Date: Saturday, March 6
Time: 5 p.m. (PST)
Location: Student Recreation Center
Series Record: UCR leads, 12-9

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LONG BEACH – Long Beach State closes out the regular season on Saturday, March 6, when it heads to UC Riverside for a 5 p.m. (PST) Big West Conference game.

THE RECORDS
LBSU fell to 12-16 overall and 8-7 in Big West action after dropping a pair of games to UC Davis and Pacific last week.

UC Riverside (14-14, 11-4 BWC) recently took over the top spot in the conference as it defeated Pacific, 50-41, and UC Davis, 57-53.

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
UC Riverside is riding a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s match-up. UCR claimed sole possession of first place in the Big West following its 57-53 victory over UC Davis last weekend. Alyssa Morris has paced the Highlanders with a team-high 13.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Rhaya Neabors is the second-leading scorer at 11.7 points per contest, while Marissa Rivera (10.6 ppg) and Amber Cox (10.2 ppg) are also averaging double figures.

THE SERIES
Long Beach State trails in its all-time series with UC Riverside, 12-9. The 49ers snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Highlanders with a 55-46 victory in the first meeting on Jan. 2 at the Walter Pyramid.

WADE’S WORLD
Senior Ally Wade has been making the most of her final season at The Beach, averaging 11.5 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game. She also ranks second on the team with 53 assists and 40 steals, and is shooting 46.2 percent from the field. Wade pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds against Cal State Bakersfield and has reached the 20-point mark four times this season.

SEEING DOUBLE
Senior Karina Figueroa has reached double figures in scoring in 26 of 28 games and has hit the 20-point mark 12 times. She also has a team-leading four double-doubles. Her first of the season came in the opener against Prairie View A&M when she netted 23 points and 10 assists. Figueroa also accomplished the feat against Miami (23 points, 10 assists), USC (26 points, 10 assists) and UC Santa Barbara (16 points, 10 assists).

MORE FOR MOORER
Tipesa Moorer has made a name for herself in her second year at The Beach. Since posting a then career-high 10 points against Cal on Dec. 21, Moorer has hit double figures seven times, including a personal-best 21 points at Pacific. She also added 10 rebounds against the Tigers for her first career double-double. After averaging just 2.7 points and 2.9 rebounds over the 49ers’ first 12 contests, Moorer has put up impressive numbers in Big West Conference action, averaging 8.9 points and 5.1 rebounds per outing, while shooting over 40 percent from the field.

SIMS NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICAN
Senior Lauren Sims was named to the 2010 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America Women’s Basketball Second Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Sims is averaging 11.7 points per game, while she leads the team with 63 3-pointers made. The Fullerton, Calif., native has also excelled in the classroom, maintaining a 4.0 GPA as a biology-physiology major with a minor in chemistry. Sims is LBSU’s third women’s basketball Academic All-American.

FIGUEROA JOINS 1,000-POINT CLUB
It didn’t take long for Karina Figueroa to find herself among the 49er elite as she surpassed 1,000 career points in her first game back after redshirting the 2008-09 campaign. Figueroa, who needed 16 points to hit the milestone, led The Beach with a team-high 23 in a season-opening victory against Prairie View A&M. Figueroa now ranks seventh among LBSU’s all-time leading scorers with 1,482 career points.

UP NEXT
Long Beach State will head to Anaheim next week for the Big West Conference Tournament, March 10-13. The final seedings will be determined following Saturday’s games.

LBSU is currently in fifth place in the Big West after UC Santa Barbara’s victory over UC Irvine on Wednesday. Depending on how things play out this weekend, the highest the 49ers could finish is tied for fourth and the lowest is sixth.