Beach Return Home to Face UOP, CSUN
49ers Play Mini Two-Game Set at The Pyramid
January 6, 2004 PDF File of the Release PACIFIC, THURSDAY 7:30 P.M.
The Tigers (3-8, 2-0) are one of three teams undefeated, the others are Cal Poly and UCSB... UOP has won three of four after dropping first seven... tough non-conference schedule included losses at Texas Tech and at Stanford... All-Big West forward Gillian d'Hondt leads the club with 14.4 points and 5.3 rebounds per game... Nancy Dinges is averaging 10.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while Corine Wong is averaging 5.5 assists per game... UOP shots at just a 40% clip... LBSU has won the last seven Pyramid meetings.
CS NORTHRIDGE, SATURDAY, 7:30 P.M.
CSUN (1-9, 0-2) have dropped seven straight with the team's only win coming on December 6 over San Diego State (71-52)... two losses last week were by a combined three points to Fullerton and Riverside... All-Big West forward Ofa Tulikihihifo leads the club in scoring (14.4), rebounding (8.8) and assists (2.7)... LaJoyce King is averaging 10.9 points per game... CSUn is shooting 39%... LBSU is 15-1 all-time at home against CSUN, with the only loss coming in 1966-67.
BEACH RETURNS HOME FOR TWO
Long Beach State (4-7, 0-2 Big West) has a quick turnaround after being swept on the Central Coast last Saturday and Monday when it begins a mini two-game home stand against Pacific (3-8, 2-0 Big West) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and CS Northridge (1-9, 0-2 Big West) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. All LBSU games can be heard live at www.longbeachstate.com. Despite shooting a respectable 45% and averaging nearly 66 points per game to open up conference play, LBSU twice was forced to come back from double-digit deficits in the second half against UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. The Beach did see the return of starting off-guard Crystal McCutcheon, who had missed the last two weeks of December with a thumb injury. McCutcheon returned to average 15 points per game.
THE HEGARTY FILE
Mary Hegarty, one of the 15 greatest players in UCLA women's basketball history (along with current assistant and Hall of Famer Denise Curry), begins her first season at the helm of the 49ers. Hegarty previously coached 10 seasons at Chapman University in Orange County, going 160-92 (.635), averaging 16 wins a season after the team won just two games the year prior to her arrival. Over the past three seasons, Chapman, a non-scholarship, unaffiliated Division-III program reached the last three straight NCAA Tournaments with at-large berths and went 57-24 (.704), including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2001-02. She appeared in four NCAAs in her 10 seasons.
at Cal Poly 68, LBSU 64: LBSU began its worst start to a Big West season since 1997-98, getting swept on the Central Coast with a four-point loss at Mott Gym. The 49ers fought back from a 15-point deficit and cut it to three in the closing seconds but could get no closer. Candice Wilson scored a season-high 19 points, while Crystal McCutcheon completed a successful comeback from a thumb injury with 12 points and seven rebounds.
at UCSB 78, LBSU 67: The Gauchos jumped out to a 19-6 lead and kept ahead double digits much of the rest of the contest, knocking the 49ers down for the 24th straight time in the series. LBSU outrebounded the much taller Gauchos 33 to 31 and shot 46%, but could never get over that early deficit. Crystal McCutcheon, who had missed the previous two weeks with a thumb injury, scored 18 points and added seven rebounds and seven assists, while Lauren Bull for the third night in a row set her season-high, this time with 14 points.
BOMBS AWAY FROM THREE
The 49ers went beyond the arc last week firing away at a 41% clip from three-point range on the Central Coast, hitting 12-of-29 shots. Lauren Bull hit five three-pointers to move into a tie for fourth place all-time in career three's, while Candice Wilson and Crystal McCutcheon added three, three's a piece. LBSU is shooting 32% from three-point range on the season. In fact, over the past three contests, LBSU is shooting 38% from three.
McCUTCHEON RETURNS IN A FLURY
It was as if she wasn't gone. Starting off-guard Crystal McCutcheon (Lancaster) averaged 15 points per game in her return to the lineup after missing the final two weeks of December with a torn tendon in her thumb. McCutcheon fired away with 18 points at UC Santa Barbara, which included a season-high seven rebounds and seven assists. McCutcheon then added 12 points and seven more boards at Cal Poly. On the year the sophomore is averaging 12.9 points and 4.8 rebounds with a team-best 3.2 assists per game.
COMING BACK TO WIN
Three times this season, the 49ers have come back in the second half to defeat their opponent, most recently to close out 2003 against New Orleans. LBSU trailed by seven to the Privateers, coming back to win by two. Previously, the 49ers overcame a 12-point (EWU) and 14-point (USD) second half to win by eight. Two other times (Colorado State and Fresno State) the 49ers came within a single basket.
STEADY AS ALWAYS
Six-foot six center Petra Gläser (Amtsberg, Germany) has tallied double digits in each of her last 10 games, keeping the team's top scorer at 14.0 points per game. Gläser has hit for 15 or more points six times, including a season-high 18 points in back to back nights against Fresno State and Northern Arizona in mid-December. Gläser is shooting at a 50% clip and is averaging 5.0 rebounds per game.
BULL EARNS IT
Senior Lauren Bull (Rockford, IL) was named the team's third captain on January 1 based on her work effort and leadership over the first two months of the season. That determination has paid off on the court as well as she has started the last six, averaging 10.3 points per game over that stretch. She has upped her average to 8.3 points per game, almost doubling her career average (4.2) over the first three years. She is hitting a team-best 34% from beyond the arc.
PLAYING CATCHUP
The 49ers were in a familiar, if unfriendly, position last weekend, trailing both UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly early before having to mount a comeback. UCSB jumped out to a 16-2 lead, while holding serve for much of the first half, Cal Poly went on a 19-7 run to open the second half, holding on for the four-point cushion.
MACK MISSES TWO GAMES
Starting guard Christina Mack (Phoenix, AZ) missed both games on the Central Coast with the flu. The 49ers, without Mack, had just three true guards on scholarship and available in its rotation.
BLIP ON THE RADAR
The Beach shot just 8-of-16 from the charity stripe at Cal Poly breaking a streak of four straight games in which the team hit 70% or better from the free throw line. On the season LBSU is shooting 69%.
WILSON HEATING UP?
Point guard Candice Wilson (Sacramento) is coming off a season-high 19 points at Cal Poly on Monday and may slowly be starting to rev up the engines for the conference season. Over the last five games Wilson is averaging 11.0 points per game, the same average she had last year as the team's second returning scorer. Wilson on the year is averaging 7.5 points per game.
49ERS PICKED THIRD
LBSU was picked to finish third in both the coaches and media pre-season polls. UC Santa Barbara, which has won the last eight Big West titles was picked to win it. The 49ers have won eighteen conference championships in its history and reached seven Big West Tournament Championship games since 1989.
SUN CONTINUES TO REHAB
Redshirt guard Liz Sun (Chatsworth, CA) is out indefinitely after two separate knee injuries, one suffered in the spring of her senior prep season two years ago.
STRONG TRADITION
The Long Beach State program was ranked in the top-10 for much of the 1980's and have finished ranked in the top-20 10 times in its history. For 215 straight weeks from 1979 to 1991, The Beach were ranked in the top-25. LBSU has won 18 conference titles and reached 16 NCAA Tournaments. Despite not having a Kodak All-American since 1988-89, the 49ers ranked seventh all-time in total All-Americans since 1981.
HOW DO YOU SPELL THAT?
Germany native Petra Gläser last name is spelled with an umlat (ä) over the "a" in German and Glaeser in English. The preferred spelling is with the ä, if you can figure out the proper keys (usually alt-u followed by the a) to produce it!
TRANSFERS TO REDSHIRT
Sophomore Val Willhoit (Colorado Springs, CO-Colorado State) and senior Aisha Hollans (Berkeley, CA-USC) will both redshirt this season after transferring. Willhoit is a former All-State guard out of Colorado, while Hollans is a former first team All-Pac 10 guard from USC who averaged 14.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in three seasons at Southern Cal.
49ERS INK TWO FOR 2004-05
Jeanie Saunders (Long Beach) and Junior College transfer Meghan Griffith (Rocklin) both signed letters of intent to attend LBSU starting in 2004-05. Saunders, a 5-7 guard from Wilson High, averaged 12.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 3.0 steals as a junior earning second team All-Press-Telegram Dream Team status. Griffith, as a 6-3 freshman at Sierra College in Northern California, averaged 13 points, 8.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game. |
