LBSU Women’s Hoops Opens Conference Action with 63-45 Win At UC Riverside

Thursday, January 10

Riverside, CA

7 p.m.

Long Beach State University

4-10 (1-0)

UC Riverside

6-10 (0-2)

Long Beach State

UC Riverside

Photo by: John Fajardo

LBSU Women’s Hoops Opens Conference Action with 63-45 Win At UC Riverside

1/10/2019 11:20:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Solid all-around effort lifts the Beach to their third-straight win

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF) | Play-By-Play (PDF)

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Long Beach State played well on both sides of the ball to kick off Big West Conference action with a 63-45 victory at UC Riverside on Thursday night. The Beach have now won three straight contests.

LBSU (4-10, 1-0 Big West) had four players reach double figures in the win over UCR (6-10, 0-2 Big West) as the team was led by Cydnee Kinslow's 14 points. Kinslow paced Justina King (13 points), Naomi Hunt (11 points) and Shanaijah Davison (11 points) on offense.

The Beach shot 35.1-percent from the field and made 14-of-16 free throws as the team saw an offensive spark in the fourth quarter that lifted them past the Highlanders.

While the offense was on-point, so was the Beach defense. LBSU grabbed 26 defensive rebounds and swiped 18 steals in the game to hold UCR to just 45 points. The Beach forced 27 turnovers and scored 26 points off of turnovers as the offense capitalized on the defense's efforts.

Leading the way in rebounding for the Beach was Jasmine Hardy who finished the game with a season-high 10 boards. The freshman added eight points to narrowly miss a double-double.

King, Davison and Hunt contributed defensively as well to combine for 12 of the team's 18 steals. King led the way with five, while Davison added four and Hunt grabbed three.

UC Riverside took the lead early to start the game, but a jumper by Hunt with 4:01 in the first quarter gave Long Beach State a lead it would not relinquish. Hunt's jumper sparked an 11-0 run that would put the Beach up for good as LBSU led the rest of the game.

The Beach closed out the first quarter up 16-10 and although the Highlanders managed to even the score at 21-all in the second frame, Long Beach State never gave up its lead. Kianna Hamilton-Fisher sunk a three to give the Beach a 24-21 advantage over the Highlanders en route to taking a five-point (29-24) lead into the locker room at halftime.

The second half belonged to the Beach as Long Beach State limited UC Riverside to just eight points in the third quarter on 21.4-percent shooting. LBSU led by 12 heading into the final 10 minutes of action and in the fourth quarter, led by as many as 21 (63-42).

With the game going LBSU's way, the Beach scored 19 points in the fourth quarter while shooting 45.5-percent from the field to win the game, 63-45.

Long Beach State will look to extend its winning streak to four on Thursday, Jan. 17 when it hosts Cal Poly inside the Walter Pyramid. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.