Long Beach State University Athletics
Long Beach State University
2-9
Tennessee
11-0
Long Beach State Suffers Setback to No. 7 Tennessee
12/17/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
LONG BEACH -- Freshman Ma'Qhi Berry poured in a career-high 19 points to lead all scorers, but the Long Beach State women's basketball team was unable to hand No. 7 Tennessee its first loss of the season as the Lady Vols defeated the Beach 90-61.
In addition to her 19-point showing, Berry was one assist shy of a double-double. She ended the game leading all players in points (19), assists (9), and made field goals (7), while leading LBSU in rebounding (7) and free throws made (4). She came away with new career-highs in points, rebounds and assists in her best collegiate performance of the season.
The Beach (2-8) were unintimidated by the Lady Vols (11-0) as Long Beach State boasted three double-figure scorers led by Berry's 19 points. Freshman Naomi Hunt added to the Beach's offensive attack with 13 points, while senior Cecily Wilson contributed 10 points. Senior Jessica Gertz drained a trio of three-pointers to finish the game with nine points.
"I'm proud of our team's efforts," Long Beach State head coach Jeff Cammon said. "They competed and didn't back down. I wanted to see a little more continuity on offense. I thought that we've been defending decently. We've been holding teams where we want, but we haven't been able to score the ball as much.
"I thought we got better in some ways, but you want to see three or four kids consistently putting certain numbers together and we haven't really found that yet. But we had some kids step up, like Ma'Qhi. She had a pretty good game tonight. But I think it's figuring out who they are each game. Where they're going to get their shots from and doing what they do well on both ends of the floor."
Long Beach State's defense forced Tennessee into 17 turnovers and scored 22 points off of those turnovers, while turning the ball over just 12 times themselves. The Beach also held the edge over the Lady Vols on blocks, 3-2. However, Tennessee collected nine steals to LBSU's six and out-rebounded the Beach 62-30.
Offensively, Tennessee shot 44.3 percent (31-70) in the game, while holding Long Beach State to 33.3 percent (23-for-69). From long distance, the Lady Vols sunk 12-of-29 three-pointers to shot 41.4 percent from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Long Beach State shot 36.7 percent (11-for-30) from three-point range. The Lady Vols managed to get to the free throw line 23 times, while the Beach only got six free throw attempts. All of Long Beach State's free throws and attempts came from Berry who finished the game 4-for-6 from the line. Tennessee, however, sent six different players to the line and connected on 16-of-23 free throw attempts.
"As a team, the more we can move the ball and share the ball and make that your pass, the better we're going to be," Cammon explained. "I think you saw that towards the end of the second half. We were able to get good ball movement; we got wide open shots for Naomi (Hunt), who shoots well, and Jess (Gertz), we got back doors from Cece (Wilson). So the more we can move our bodies and move the ball, the more shots we can get."
The Beach started the game out strong taking an early lead on a pair of buckets from Berry. After the Lady Vols took a 6-4 lead, Gertz hit a three to give Long Beach State back the lead. From there, Tennessee went on an 8-0 and it would not surrender the lead for the remainder of the game.
Berry tallied 10 of her 19 points in the first quarter, shooting 50 percent (5-for-10) in the opening 10 minutes of action. But Tennessee shot 47.4 percent (9-for-19) as a team and closed out the first quarter leading LBSU 27-16.
Tennessee kicked off the second quarter on an 8-0 run forcing a Long Beach State timeout. Following the break in action, Wilson hit a three at 6:14 to end the Beach's scoring drought. The Lady Vols led by as many as 23 in the second quarter, but the Beach managed to cut the lead down to 17 (49-32) as they headed into the locker room at halftime.
The third quarter saw the Lady Vols make another run, this time 9-0, to extend their lead to 27 (66-39) with less than three minutes left in the frame. Berry hit a three followed by a jumper in the final minute of action to send it to the fourth quarter with the Beach down 70-44.
In the final quarter, the Beach stayed close with the Lady Vols as they scored 17 points to Tennessee's 20 points in the frame. Freshman Mason VanHouten came off the bench and hit a pair of threes, while Hunt also drained a three. Of the five made field goals in the final 10 minutes for LBSU, three came from beyond the arc.
Tennessee finished the game with five double-figure scorers led by Meme Jackson and Anastasia Hayes who each tallied 15 points. Mercedes Russell and Evina Westbrook added 14 points each, while Jaime Nared contributed 11. Russell and Nared each posted a double-double, with Russell recording 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Nared registering 11 points and as many boards. Also notching double-figure rebounds for the Lady Vols was Rennia Davis who grabbed 10 boarded to go along with seven points.
Long Beach State will return to action when it hosts the Beach Classic presented by Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites by Hilton Long Beach Airport. The tournament, which features Illinois State, New Mexico State and Northeastern, begins Wednesday, Dec. 20 with games at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., and will conclude on Thursday, Dec. 21 with the consolation game at noon and the championship game at 2 p.m.
