Long Beach State University
Pacific
O'Brien Double-Double Leads 49ers Past Pacific
3/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
January 10, 2008
Stockton, Calif. - Kaiti O'Brien finished with her second double-double of the year and Ally Wade added 16 points as Long Beach State picked up their first conference win, downing Pacific 62-56 on the road. With the win, the 49ers improve to 1-2 in the Big West while Pacific falls to 0-2.
The 49ers put together their best shooting night of the year in a tough environment, just missing 50% of their shots at 24-49 for 49.1% and were 9-13 from the line. In particular, O'Brien was solid in the post, shooting 7-12 and the team as a whole won the rebound battle handily 38-29.
Long Beach State picked up a quick lead by hitting O'Brien early in the post, part of eight first-half points for the junior, but 17 first-half turnovers helped Pacific move out to a 22-13 lead after two of guard Amy VanHollebeke's four three pointers on the night.
Coming up with an answer to that run, however, the 49ers finally were able to get Wade untracked from outside, as the sophomore hit two of her four threes to help key a 49er run, as Long Beach State outscored the Tigers 16-6 over the last 5:17 over the first half including holding Pacific to one free throw over the last 3:32 to help take a 29-28 lead into the half.
After coming back from nine down to take the lead, Long Beach State would never trail in the second. VanHollebeke hit one final three to tie the game at 44 with just over ten minutes to go, but the 49ers held tough with strong defense over the next two minutes and finally broke the deadlock when Lynea Williams finished a three-point play after being fouled on a runner in the lane. With that lead, the 49ers relied on two more threes from Calhoun and Wade to extend their lead to nine with 3:19 to play, and hit their free throws down the stretch, negating any kind of Pacific challenge.
