Long Beach State Comes Up Short in Hard-Fought Contest at UC Irvine in Black & Blue Rivalry

Saturday, March 9

Irvine, CA

2 p.m.

Long Beach State University

8-21, 5-11BWC

UC Irvine

18-10, 8-8BWC

Long Beach St.

UC Irvine

Long Beach State Comes Up Short in Hard-Fought Contest at UC Irvine in Black & Blue Rivalry

3/9/2019 4:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

LBSU had four players score in double figures in setback

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

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

IRVINE, Calif. – The Long Beach State women's basketball team shot a team-high 46.2-percent from the field and saw four players reach double figures, but came up short in a 65-60 loss at UC Irvine on Saturday afternoon to close out the regular season.

With the loss, the Beach drop to 8-21 overall and 5-11 in Big West action. Long Beach State will head into the Big West Tournament as either the No. 7 or No. 8 seed depending on the outcome of the Hawaii-CSUN game. A Hawaii win would give the Beach the higher seed going into the first round of the tournament on Tuesday.

The Beach turned in one of their best offensive performances of the year as they were led by Sydney Bordonaro's season-high 14-point effort. Bordonaro connected on 4-of-5 threes to lead a quartet of double figure scorers. Naomi Hunt and Shanaijah Davison each tallied 13 points, while Justina King contributed 12.

Hunt was also solid defensively for the Beach picking up a career-high four blocks to go along with two steals in the game.

While the Beach shot well, so did the Anteaters (18-10, 8-8 Big West) as the hosts connected on 22-of-55 field goals for a 40-percent efficiency. UC Irvine was led by Lauren Saiki's 23-point performance, while Andee Ritter posted 14 points and Tahila Garza added 10.

Long Beach State and UC Irvine battled each other through seven ties and nine lead changes. Neither team led by more than eight points throughout the game.

After a close first half, UC Irvine held a one-point edge over Long Beach State, 26-25, at halftime. The Beach came out of the break in action and evened the score at 28-28 on another three from Bordonaro. From there, LBSU took the lead (29-28) after Justina King made the first of a pair of free throws.

The Beach held the lead until Yazzy Sa'Dullah's layup at 4:50 which put the Anteaters back up (30-29). The layup sparked an 11-2 run by UC Irvine which would give the hosts their largest lead of the game (39-31) with 2:04 left in the third quarter before taking a 42-35 lead into the fourth.

Down by seven to start the fourth quarter, Long Beach State turned in a gritty performance in the final 10 minutes of action as the Beach shot 52.6-percent from the field and scored 25 points in the frame to UCI's 23.

LBSU opened the fourth quarter with five straight points thanks to a three from Hunt and a jumper by Davison to make it a one-possession game (42-40). Irvine pushed its lead back up to seven twice more before the Beach bounded back again.

The Beach would not give up and Hunt drained a three with 1:09 remaining to make it a 59-57 game. With LBSU putting the pressure on, UC Irvine countered with a three from Saiki. From there, Hunt hit another three to make it a one-possession game once again, before the Beach found themselves down by five (65-60) as the clock expired.