49ers Claim Share of BWC Crown
LBSU Defeats UC Irvine, 67-65
March 4, 2006 | WOMEN'S BASKETBALL | 1 | 2 | OT1 | OT2 | F | RECORDS | | Long Beach State | 45 | 22 | | - | 67 | 18-9, 10-4 | | UCI | 40 | 25 | | - | 65 | 9-18, 7-7 | LEADING SCORERS: LBSU-McCutcheon, 15 UCI-Cochran, 15
LEADING REBOUNDERS: LBSU-Griffith, 13 UCI-Cochran, 12 | | BOX SCORE |
IRVINE, CA -- The Long Beach State women's basketball team claimed its share of the Big West Conference crown and ended the regular season with a 67-65 win at UC Irvine on Saturday afternoon. Long Beach State (18-9, 10-4) will be a No. 2 seed in the Big West Conference Tournament, March 8-11. The 49ers share the conference title with UC Santa Barbara, and will play on Friday, Mar. 10 in the semifinals at the Anaheim Convention Center.
This is the first conference title for Long Beach State since the 1990-91 season.
Meghan Griffith posted her second double-double with a career-high 12 points to go along with 13 rebounds to lead the 49ers. Crystal McCutcheon added 15 points, while teammate Jeannie Saunders poured in 14 points. Val Willhoit turned in a solid effort with 10 points and five rebounds.
Kelly Cochran led UC Irvine (9-18, 7-7) with 15 points and 12 rebounds in the losing effort.
The Anteaters rallied in the second half and trimmed the deficit to one-point, 56-55, after a Melissa Jacob layup, before taking the lead, 57-56, after two Cochran free throws. Long Beach State reclaimed the lead, 63-60, after a McCutcheon layup with 2:42 left in the game. After the score was tied at 63-63, McCutcheon nailed a jumper from the elbow to put LBSU up for good, 66-63 with 1:12 remaining.
A tightly contested first half had Long Beach State up 45-40 at the break. The 49ers held a seven-point lead, 28-21, after two straight Saunders free throws. UC Irvine responded to tie the game at 33-33 after two Kirian Ishizaki free throws with 3:28 left in the period. Willhoit's baseline jumper extended Long Beach State's lead to 40-38, before a layup from UCI's Stephanie Duda tied the score at 40-40 with over a minute left. A pair of layups from Santos and Kaiti O'Brien helped give The Beach the five-point advantage. The 49ers shot a blistering 62 percent from the field (15-of-24) in the stanza. Willhoit and Saunders had a combined 22 points as well. |
