Long Beach State Defeats Cal State Fullerton, Advances to Big West Tournament Quarterfinals

Tuesday, March 12

Irvine, Calif.

8:30 PM

Long Beach State University

9-21

Cal State Fullerton

14-16

Long Beach St.

Cal St. Fullerton

Photo by: John Fajardo

Long Beach State Defeats Cal State Fullerton, Advances to Big West Tournament Quarterfinals

3/12/2019 11:55:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Davison, Hamilton-Fisher lift the Beach over the Titans

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

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

Photo Gallery

IRVINE, Calif. – No. 7 seed Long Beach State turned in a solid performance on Tuesday night in the First Round of the Big West Tournament presented by Pacific Surfliner as the Beach earned a 60-54 victory over No. 6 seed Cal State Fullerton to advance to the Quarterfinals.

The Beach (9-21) will face No. 3 seed UC Riverside (16-14) on Wednesday, March 13 at 6 p.m. at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif., in the Quarterfinals.

Long Beach State used a strong second half to surge passed Cal State Fullerton (14-16) as the Beach shot 52.2 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes of action.

Shanaijah Davison led all scorers with 21 points for her seventh 20-point performance of the year. Freshman Kianna Hamilton-Fisher poured in a career-high 16 points, while sophomore Naomi Hunt added 15 points of her own.

Hamilton-Fisher was also solid on rebounding with six boards in the game. Meanwhile Cydnee Kinslow and Justina King contributed eight rebounds of their own to lead the team.

The game started out as a defensive battle between the two conference foes as neither team allowed a field goal for the first three minutes. Shanaijah Davison broke the scoring drought with a three at 6:54, before Cal State Fullerton went on a 9-0 run to jump out in front. Long Beach State battled back and closed the gap as Kianna Hamilton-Fisher tallied five points in the final minute of the quarter to make it a one-possession game (13-11) heading into the second quarter.

Right off the bat, Davison evened the score with a layup within the first 20 seconds of the quarter. However, Fullerton would regain the lead and hold the edge over the Beach for the remainder of the frame. Hamilton-Fisher added another five points in the second quarter to reach double figures by halftime, as LBSU went into the locker room down by just one (25-24).

After putting together a strong first half, the Beach came out of the locker room even stronger and more determined. LBSU opened the second half with a three by Hunt followed by another three from Davison to jump out in front 30-25 of the Titans. After Fullerton battled back and knotted the score at 30-30, Long Beach State would not back down and led by as many as five (41-36) in the frame before taking a two-point lead (43-41) into the fourth quarter.

The Beach opened the final 10 minutes of action on a 10-1 run highlighted by a three from Hamilton-Fisher as LBSU extended its lead to 11 (55-44). Holding their largest lead of the game, the Beach held the Titans at bay as Long Beach State went on to claim a 60-54 victory over Cal State Fullerton.