Long Beach State University Athletics
Women Finish Regular Season At Cal Poly, UCSB
3/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 4, 2008
Long Beach, Calif. -
Complete Basketball Release in PDF Format 
THIS WEEK:
Long Beach State 49ers (7-18, 5-8 Big West) at
Cal Poly Mustangs (10-17, 7-7 Big West)
Date: Thursday, March 6
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Long Beach State 49ers (7-18, 5-8 Big West) at
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (19-7, 13-1 Big West)
Date: Saturday, March 8
Time: 2 p.m.
Location: Santa Barbara, Calif.
Closing Time
Long Beach State finishes the regular season this week with their final road trip of the year. The 49ers will head north to take on their first two Big West opponents of the season in Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara. The 49ers start off with the Mustangs on a March 6 contest, tipping off at 7 p.m. The regular season then ends as the 49ers head to first-place UC Santa Barbara Saturday at 2 p.m. Both games can be followed live at www.longbeachstate.com.
Tournament Tales
Long Beach State's win over Cal State Northridge locked up a Big West tournament appearance for the 49ers, so Beach fans can look forward to that following their regular season finale this week. Currently in seventh place, the 49ers will likely face either Cal State Fullerton or Cal Poly on the tournament's first day. Times and opponents for the first round will be announced following the conclusion of conference play.
Week In Review
The 49er winning streak continued last week as the 49ers picked up a big win in the Black & Blue rivalry against UC Irvine. Grabbing a road win, the 49ers forced a number of turnovers and got 15 points from freshman LaTorya Barbee to get the win. Karina Figueroa and Tyresha Calhoun also scored in double-digits for Long Beach State.
Last Time Around
Bookending conference play with Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara, the 49ers are a completely different team than when the squads played last. Long Beach State was still missing their leading rebounder, Courtney Jacob, as well as their two leading scorers in Big West play in Karina Figueroa and Valeriya Musina. Down the three starters, the 49ers still put up a nice fight against the Gauchos in the conference opener, but fell by a larger margin to Cal Poly in the Walter Pyramid. Ally Wade led the 49ers in scoring against the Gauchos, and Kaiti O'Brien led the Beach against Cal Poly.
Scouting Cal Poly
After winning four straight games to begin conference play, the Mustangs have been a bit of a mystery of late. Cal Poly has a road win at UC Riverside to its credit, but has had three overtime losses in conference play, including two to Pacific, a team that the 49ers beat twice. In fact, Cal Poly has played much better away from Mott Gym, going 5-3 on the road and just 2-4 at home this season.
Long Beach State vs. the Mustangs
Long Beach State still holds a 33-11 all-time series advantage over Cal Poly. the 49ers lost just one game to the Mustangs in the early years of the series, and have played Cal Poly yearly since 1995. The 49ers last win over Cal Poly came in last year's Big West tournament, hanging on with a last-second basket by Karina Figueroa after a huge first-half for Long Beach State.
Scouting UC Santa Barbara
Despite the loss of Jenna Green, the Gauchos continue to be the class of the conference, holding onto the top spot with two games to play. The Gauchos have had to work hard to come by that record, winning three overtime games before finally dropping their first conference game at home to UC Davis on Feb. 23, also in overtime. Jessica Wilson leads the team in scoring with 12.2 points per game.
Long Beach State vs. the Gauchos
UC Santa Barbara can tie the all-time series with a win Saturday, as the 49ers hold a one-game edge overall with 39 wins to 38 losses. Long Beach State grabbed a 58-52 win in the Pyramid in 2006, but had lost 27 straight games prior to that to an improved Gaucho ballclub.
From The Outside
Long Beach State remains the one of the most accurate teams in the conference from beyond the arc, hitting an impressive 33.0% from three this year. Hitting 115 of 349 attempts for a .330 mark, that is just behind UC Irvine's first-place total of .331 overall. Sophomore captain Lauren Sims is first in the conference in shooting percentage, hitting from the outside at a .375 clip, while Ally Wade is fifth, shooting 33% percent for the Beach. Senior guard Tyresha Calhoun has also been very accurate in limited attempts, hitting 11 of her 26 attempts this year.
