FORTY-NINER LADIES HOPE TO FIND FIVE FIXES BEFORE THE REAL GAMES BEGIN

The story of Saturday afternoon for Long Beach State women’s basketball was how anticipation turned into dissatisfaction. How the D-2 Broncos of Cal Poly Pomona rode into the Pyramid and lassoed the Beach for the second consecutive year, this time a 58-39 exhibition loss.

Oh yes, there was much mentioned about the MASH unit full of injuries that have five potential starters hanging out in the training room and not the scorers table. The sixth MIA was highly touted 6-3 muscled post player Janae Coffey, who was ready and needed but had to sit with a team discipline verdict. She is a four-year letter winner from Clovis West and powered the Golden Eagles to four consecutive Tri-River Athletic Conference championships and three Central Section titles. Still a little heavier than the coaches would like, the value of Coffey became evident. Coffey is a psych major but Coach Jody Wynn does all the analysis on who plays and who sits.

It wasn’t so much the offense that was missed with her absence as it was defense. Freshman guard Brandi Henton did score in double figures (12 points on 4-12 shooting), but she committed 10 of the teams 31 turnovers which led to CPP scoring 22 points. Coach Wynn told the post game media, “If we’re going to allow people to have second-chance opportunities, and we’re going to turn the ball over 30 times a game, and we’re not going to shoot the ball worth a darn and continue to foul, then we’re going to lose to anybody.”  Ouch.

If you like to play fantasy ball, consider this. Coffey could have at least controlled Bronco 6-1 center Megan Ford, who wandered the post at will en route to 18 points on 9-of-15 shooting and seven rebounds. My projection is that Coffey would have parked Ford with five fouls, held her to about 9 points and the Beach wins the game 48-47. Motivation and message delivered by Coach Wynn, insiders expect Janae to play in the official season opener Saturday against Oregon State in Corvallis, Ore. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30pm at Gill Coliseum and although it is a Pac-10 opponent, OSU finished 11-20 last season, has a new coach and was picked to finish last in the conference.

So what is on Jody’s to-do list before the team rides the big silver bird to Corvallis, the town that time forgot? (Some say the local time is still 1974)  “We have a lot to work on. We gave up far too many second chance points (Pomona took advantage of LBSU’s smallish interior to grab 23 offensive rebounds), had 31 turnovers, couldn’t hit the open shot (16-55), fouled way too much (21 to 10 for CPP).”  Then Wynn added, “…and somewhere we have to find some leadership.”  Maybe some of that fix could come from seniors Melanie Lisnock and Courtney Jacob but neither is likely before conference season begins. Two highly anticipated newcomers did play, most important of which was Ella Clark, a slim 6-3 player from Barking Abbey School in London but she didn’t have much bite on Saturday.  She got her second foul with 10 minutes left in the first half and went to the bench with LB still leading 13-10.  Her second half was better but the reffing was a bit inconsistent. I mean she is 6-3, and a CPP player blocked her shot from the back?  Settling down Clark, who ended up 2-4, did have a nice follow and with Coffey alongside her the inside damage in the future should be limited.

The other new kid of interest is a legacy, the daughter of glory days star Sabrina Starkey, Alyssa Starkey.  Her dad Kevin was a 49er quarterback and her brother Sean is currently a guard on the men’s basketball team. Alyssa’s stat line was 0-1 in 14 minutes but a hard foul that almost made her momma proud.  “Well, she can play good defense but I just want her to make a basket.”  LBSU was picked to finish seventh by the media in the nine-team Big West Conference and after OSU returns to the areas for a Monday night game at LMU.