Long Beach State Battles, But Falls to Oregon State in the First Round of the WNIT

Thursday, March 17

Corvallis, Ore.

7:00 PM

Long Beach State University

19-9,12-6Big West

Oregon State

15-13,6-9Pac-12

Long Beach St.

Oregon St.

Photo by: John Fajardo

Long Beach State Battles, But Falls to Oregon State in the First Round of the WNIT

3/17/2022 10:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Justina King leads the way with 20 points, while Kianna Hamilton-Fisher registers a career-high 17 points

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Long Beach State Women's Basketball team turned in a solid showing at Oregon State in the First Round of the WNIT on Thursday night at Gill Coliseum, but ultimately dropped a 70-59 decision.

The Beach ended their season with a 19-9 overall record, while the Beavers improved to 15-13 and advance to the Second Round of the WNIT where they will play the winner of the Colorado State-Portland game.

LBSU came out shooting as the Beach shot 45.0-percent from the field in the first quarter and drained 6-of-10 three-pointers. Kianna Hamilton-Fisher was on fire as she made four of the Beach's six treys. Hamilton-Fisher led Long Beach on a 7-0 run as the Beach opened up a 15-point lead (26-11) over Oregon State, before taking a 10-point lead into the second quarter (26-16).

Despite the offense going cold in the second quarter, the Beach continued to hold the lead. Although Oregon State chipped away and used six-straight points to cut LBSU's lead down to five (33-28). While the Beach started cooling down, the Beavers began to heat up shooting 54.5-percent (12-for-22) from the field to LBSU's 14.3 field goal percentage. However, Long Beach State's large lead from the first quarter kept the Beach ahead of the Beavers as LBSU held a 35-30 lead at halftime.

The second half saw Oregon State get into its groove, meanwhile Long Beach State's weren't falling. After six-straight points, the Beavers took a 36-35 lead over the Beach. The lead was short-lived as Hamilton-Fisher and Justina King teamed up for back-to-back threes to go back up by five (43-38). With the game tied 45-45, the Beavers closed out the frame on a 6-0 run to take a 51-45 lead into the fourth quarter.

Oregon State went on a 7-0 run in the fourth to open up a 10-point advantage over Long Beach State (58-48) by 8:06. From there, the Beavers controlled the game, leading by as many as 13 (67-54) before taking the game, 70-59.

Long Beach State finished the game with 10 made three-pointers marking the most threes made by a Beach team in the WNIT. Hamilton-Fisher sank five of those setting another LBSU WNIT record, while King added two, Kristyna Jeskeova made two, and Maddi Utti drained one.

Kianna Hamilton-Fisher is on FIRE!!! ??

Hamilton-Fisher drains her 4th trey of the game at 4:44 thanks to a steal from Jasmine Hardy #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/oStvUIpG0t
— LBSU W Basketball (@beachwbb) March 18, 2022

King led the Beach in scoring with 20 points marking her 11th career 20-point contest. She also led the team with four assists.

Hamilton-Fisher concluded the game with a career-high 17 points. Five of her six field goals came from behind the arc, which was also a new career-best for the redshirt sophomore guard. Hamilton-Fisher also finished with career-highs in rebounding (8) and steals (5).

Utti grabbed 10 rebounds for her 10th double-digit rebound game of the season, while also adding seven points, and four steals.

Oregon State had three double-figure scorers in Kennedy Brown (15), Jelena Mitrovic (14), and Elli Mack (11). Brown finished with a double-double as she added 12 boards, while Mack added five assists.