Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
UC Riverside
LBSU's second-half woes lead to 64-48 loss to UC Riverside
2/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2009
LONG BEACH - The Long Beach State women's basketball team trailed by two at the break, but was held to just 19 points in the second half as UC Riverside ran away with a 64-48 victory Friday evening at the Walter Pyramid.
The Highlanders (16-9, 11-1 BWC) won their 11th straight game and moved into a tie for first place with UC Santa Barbara in the Big West Conference, while the 49ers fell to 7-18 on the season and 3-9 in league play.
UCR shot 42.9 percent from the field and held The Beach to a 26.7 field goal percentage, including a dismal 13.3 percent in the second half.
Senior Lynea Williams tied her career high with a team-best 16 points. Junior Whitney Fields was LBSU's second-leading scorer with nine, while senior Kaiti O'Brien pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Junior Lauren Sims, who had scored at least 21 points in each of the 49ers' last four games, was held to just seven, going 2-for-6 from the field.
UC Riverside took an early 8-5 advantage before The Beach used a 13-4 run, capped by a Sims 3-pointer, to take an 18-12 lead with 10:53 to play. After the Highlanders pulled back ahead, Fields poured in five unanswered points to put the 49ers on top, 23-19. LBSU then went scoreless over the next 3:24, allowing UCR to go up by a 29-23 margin. Williams ended the drought with a layup at the 4:15 mark as the 49ers outscored the Highlanders, 6-2, down the stretch to head into the break trailing by just two at 31-29.
The Beach stayed close early on in the second period, tying the score three times in the first five minutes of action. After O'Brien knotted the game at 35-35 with a layup, Roney Friend put the Highlanders back on top for good with 14:27 remaining. Friend's bucket started a 20-1 spurt that gave UCR its largest advantage of the night at 56-36. The Highlanders would lead by at least 15 points the rest of the way.
Nkele finished with a game-high 26 points, while Friend added 18.
Long Beach State returns to the court Thursday, Feb. 26, when it heads to UC Irvine for its final regular-season road game. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. at Bren Events Center.
