The Long Beach State women’s basketball team made a late run but was unable to recover from a 29-point first-half deficit in an 80-68 loss to UC Davis Thursday evening at The Pavilion.

The Aggies (17-8, 9-3 BWC) shot an impressive 52.7 percent from the field, while holding LBSU to 36.4 percent.

Senior Ally Wade led The Beach with a career-high six 3-pointers en route to 21 points, while classmateKarina Figueroa also finished with 21. Junior Melanie Lisnock chipped in 13 points.

UCD controlled the first half, shooting an identical 53.3 percent from the field and from 3-point range, while keeping LBSU at 27.3 percent. The 49ers also gave up 26 points off of 18 turnovers.

The Aggies jumped out to a 22-2 lead at the 12:20 mark, before senior Brett Timmons ended a 10-minute scoring drought for Long Beach State with a layup. After a quick steal by Lisnock, Figueroa drained a three, but UCD put an end to the short run as Lauren Juric responded with a 3-pointer on the Aggies’ next possession.

UC Davis led by double figures the rest of the way, taking a 48-19 advantage at the break.

After UCD went up by as many as 39 early in the second period, LBSU started to make a comeback, using a 32-8 run, capped by a Lisnock 3-pointer, to cut the deficit to 12 at 74-62.

The 49ers were able to eventually pull within 10, but that was the closest they would get as the home team held on for the 80-68 victory. 

Paige Mintun led UC Davis with a game-high 22 points, while Vicky Deely finished with 15.

Long Beach State (11-14, 7-5 BWC) is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 20, when it heads to Pacific for a 3 p.m. (PST) Big West Conference showdown.

Reports From LBSU