Head Coach Jody Wynn preaches about the last five minutes of the half and how important it is to win them. On Saturday evening, the lesson turned into a victory.
The Long Beach State women’s basketball team erased a 13-point deficit with just over six minutes to play in a thrilling 65-62 comeback victory over UC Santa Barbara yesterday in the ‘Myd.
With the win, the 49ers completed their first season sweep over the Gauchos since the 1990-91 season. LBSU had defeated UCSB, 78-63, in the previous meeting at The Thunderdome on Jan. 14.
Senior Karina Figueroa led The Beach with a game-high 24 points, marking her second consecutive 20-point performance. Figueroa also had a team-best six assists.
Junior Melanie Lisnock chipped in 14 points, while senior Ally Wade netted 11 points, six rebounds and three steals. Senior Lauren Sims also finished with 11 points.
UC Santa Barbara (8-16, 5-7 BWC) took a 14-8 advantage at the 8:23 mark before Figueroa scored nine points over a four-minute span to even the score at 17-17. Emilie Johnson then ended a scoring drought for the Gauchos with a 3-pointer, sparking a 12-3 run to put UCSB up 29-20 at intermission. The 49ers shot 32.0 percent from the field and were outrebounded 24-12 in the first half.
Coming out of the break, The Beach (11-13, 7-4 BWC) went on a 9-2 spurt, capped by a Tipesa Moorerjumper, to cut the deficit to two (31-29), but the Gauchos responded with seven unanswered points to rebuild their lead to nine at the 15:53 mark.
UCSB stayed out front and eventually went up by 13 with 6:24 to play. LBSU then started to chip away as back-to-back threes from Figueroa and Wade made it 54-49 with four and a half minutes remaining.
After the Gauchos went back up by nine with 3:34 on the clock, Wade hit a pair of jumpers to bring the 49ers within five (58-53). Lisnock then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and after a media timeout, she hit a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 58-56 with 1:37 to play.
A steal by Sims with just under one minute remaining led to another clutch three from Lisnock, which gave The Beach its first advantage (59-58) since the 17:17 mark of the first half. LBSU led the rest of the way, going 6-for-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the win.
UC Santa Barbara shot 40.7 percent from the field and held a 49-28 advantage on the boards, but committed 22 turnovers. Mekia Valentine led the Gauchos with 18 points and 12 rebounds, while Johnson finished with 16 points, eight boards and four assists.
Long Beach State, which has won its last three games, hits the road next week as it travels north for a pair of Big West Conference contests at UC Davis (Feb. 18) and Pacific (Feb. 20).
Reports From LBSU