49ers Return Home to Host Four-Straight
Cal Poly and UCSB Come to Town this Week; UC Riverside Game Next Week on TV
February 7, 2007 PDF VERSION OF THE RELEASE 49ERS HOST CENTRAL COAST FOES
The 49ers (5-18, 2-7 Big West) will begin a four-game homestand this week when they host Cal Poly (8-12, 3-4 Big West) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and UC Santa Barbara (12-10, 5-2 Big West) on Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Walter Pyamid. Next week, LBSU will host UC Riverside and CS Fullerton, before finishing the regular season on the road. LBSU enters the week with a respectable 4-6 record at home, and will host two relatively hot conference opponents, Cal Poly (winners of four of six) and UC Santa Barbara (winners of eight of 10). The UCR game will be regionally televised on KVMD television in the Los Angeles region. Cal Poly (8-12, 3-4 Big West) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Pyramid... the Mustangs have turned around their season over the last two weeks, winning three straight and moving up to fifth in the standings... Jessica Eggleston still leads the club in scoring, at 13.4 points and 7.9 rebounds per game... one stat of note is that Cal Poly is 7-3 at home, but just 1-7 away from Mott Gym... the series now stands with LBSU leading 32-9 following the Cal Poly win earlier this year.
UC Santa Barbara (12-10, 5-2 Big West) on Saturday at 5 p.m. in The Pyramid... the defending conference champions, sit a game and a half out of first place to enter the week, as UCSB enters their Thursday game at UC Irvine having won eight of 10... Jenna Green is averaging a team-best 15.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, but Chisa Ononiwu has come on as of late, as one of two other players to average double digits on the season (Jessica Wilson being the other one)... LBSU still leads the all-time series 39-36 following the loss in January.
STREAKS OF NOTE
The 49ers have lost five of their last seven and are 2-7 in the calendar year of 2007... Cal Poly has won three in a row and four of six after losing seven straight heading into the last meeting against the 49ers on January 6... UCSB has won eight of its last 10.
SCORING STARTING TO TURN
The 49er starting five may be starting to become a cohesive unit. Last week with leading scorer Karina Figueroa continuing to rack up 20-point performances, the team's other scorers have shown signs of improvement. Guard Tyresha Calhoun nearly doubled her scoring average with 12.5 points per game last week; while forwards Brett Timmons and Kaiti O'Brien combined for 24 points and 17 rebounds at Pacific. Three other players, Madison Pagani, Lakin Saucedo and Nondi Johnson each had strong games against UCSB the last time through. So the last month could be interesting as teams battle for playoff positioning.
LAST TIME THROUGH
The 49ers opened up Big West play in early January with two losses on the Central Coast... against the Gauchos on January 4, LBSU after missing 17 of their first 20 shots, nearly came back from a 16-point deficit to close to within four with 10 minutes remaining, only to fall 71-60... at Cal Poly two nights later LBSU went on a 19-0 run in the second half, but still could not come back fully from a 23-point defecit, falling 61-50.
SOMETHING ABOUT MARY
Head Coach Mary Hegarty is in her fourth year at the helm, going 216-145 in 13-plus years of coaching at Chapman (160-92) and Long Beach State (56-53). LBSU is coming off an 18-10 campaign in 2006-07 in which the 49ers were co-champions of the Big West and Hegarty was named the Big West Coach of the Year. Hegarty is one of three of the greatest women's basketball players in UCLA History, joining assistants, Hall of Famer Denise Curry and Nicole Anderson.
BIG WEST TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
All eight teams in the Big West Conference will be a part of the annual tournament at the Anaheim Convention Center from Mary 7 to 10. Tiered seeding will be effect, as the top four teams in the conference have some type of bye. For ticket information call (562) 985-4949. All session passes are $60 for both the men and women, or just $30 for all the women's action.
AS THE INJURY BUG TURNS
The 49ers will be without the services of forward Amanda Foster (knee) for the rest of the season after she injured her knee in late December. Senior Val Willhoit has not played all season due to back problems. Lauren Sims (leg) is back on the disabled list after re-injuring her leg in practice the last week of January. Sims has missed six of the last seven weeks due to the injury. Sims was a starter to begin the year.
STILL TOUGH AT HOME
Long Beach State is 26-10 over its last 36 home games dating back to Nov. 24, 2004. Also in that span, LBSU has knocked off two ranked opponents (Houston, Dec. 20, 2004, 54-52 and USC, Nov. 23, 2005, 51-46). The 49ers went 13-2 in the Walter Pyramid last season and are 4-6 this year.
DUO JOINS THE RAFTERS
On January 27 the 49ers retired two of its all-time greats when current Sparks General Manager Penny Toler and her No. 4 jersey and Olympic gold medalist Cindy Brown and her No. 53 jersey were official retired. Both were All-Americans at The Beach and both played on the Final Four teams in the mid-1980's. The duo join Wade Trophy winner, LaTaunya Pollard, who played at LBSU in the early 1980's.
DUBIOUS STREAK
With 18 losses this season it is the most for the program since 2003-04 when they went 14-16, and one away from the school-record. The program has won single digits just two times over the past four decades, going 7-19 in 1997-98 under Dallas Bolla and 9-17 in 1992-1993 under Glenn McDonald.
WHERE THEY RANK...
Karina Figueroa ranks fourth in the league in scoring (15.3), third in free throw shooting (.818) and 10th in assists (3.1)... Tyresha Calhoun is third in the league in assists (3.9), 10th in steals (1.7) and sixth in free throw shooting (.754).... Courtney Jacob is eighth in the league in blocks (0.7).
VERY YOUNG FROM THE GET GO
In her fourth season as head coach, Mary Hegarty has her youngest squad in her short tenure at LBSU. The team features 12 newcomers (eight freshmen) and four returnees.
WELCOME THE NEXT WAVE
LaTorya Barbee (Moreno Valley/Canyon Springs HS), Brittany Brumfield (Long Beach/Long Beach Poly HS), and Ashley Bookman (Redondo Beach/Redondo Union HS), have all signed NLI's for the 2007-08 season. SQUAD BREACKDOWN
Seniors 1 (Willhoit); Juniors 3 (Calhoun, Musina, Pagani); Sophomores 4 (Figueroa, O'Brien, Pena, Saucedo); Freshmen 8 (Bagley, Beckner, Jacob, Johnson, Sims, Takata, Timmons, Wade); Redshirt Freshman 1 (Foster)
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