The Beach Claim First Place in Big West with 52-50 Road Win Over UC Irvine

Saturday, February 4

Irvine, Calif.

1:00 PM

Long Beach State University

15-7,10-2Big West

UC Irvine

17-5,9-2Big West

Long Beach St.

UC Irvine

The Beach Claim First Place in Big West with 52-50 Road Win Over UC Irvine

2/4/2023 3:54:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Ma’Qhi Berry records her 1,000th career point, while Kianna Hamilton-Fisher scores the eventual game-winner to lead Long Beach State

By: Lindy Zamora, Associate Athletic Communications Director

Box Score (PDF)

IRVINE, Calif. – The Black and Blue Rivalry game came down to the wire as Kianna Hamilton-Fisher made a second-chance layup with 21.4 seconds remaining to put the Beach on top 51-50, as Long Beach State went on to earn a big road win over UC Irvine, 52-50, en route to claiming first place in The Big West standings.

Take a look back at the eventual game-winning shot! #GoBeach #Connected pic.twitter.com/H4Nf3PDI25
— LBSU W Basketball (@LBSUWBB) February 4, 2023

The Beach (15-7, 10-2 Big West) have now won eight games in a row as they played a close contest with the Anteaters (17-5, 9-2 Big West) on Saturday afternoon at the Bren Events Center. Long Beach State out-shot UC Irvine 45.5 percent to 31.5 percent from the field, and also held the advantage in assists (11-8) and blocks (3-1).

Long Beach State got off to a hot start going on an 11-0 run in the first quarter to take a convincing 13-2 lead over UC Irvine. However, the Anteaters would fight back and use an 11-0 run of their own to even the score at 13-all by the end of the first quarter.

UC Irvine had a breakout second quarter as the Anteaters out-scored the Beach 21-11 as UCI connected on 6-of-10 field goals, while holding the Beach to a 38.5 field goal percentage. The strong performance from the Anteaters gave the hosts the lead (34-24) at halftime.

Despite being down by double-digits, Long Beach State came out of the locker room and shot 45.5 percent in the frame. Meanwhile, the LBSU defense held UCI to just six points in the third quarter as the Anteaters shot 25.0 percent from the field. Ma'Qhi Berry tallied six points of her own in the third en route to becoming the 27th player in Long Beach State Women's Basketball history to record 1,000 career points. With Berry's solid effort, the Beach managed to close the gap as they headed into the final quarter down by just four (40-36).

There it is! 1,000 career points for Ma'Qhi Berry! #GoBeach #Connected pic.twitter.com/O58pM3KEhg
— LBSU W Basketball (@LBSUWBB) February 4, 2023

The Beach got a three from Courtney Murphy at 9:28 to make it a one-possession game (42-39), but the Anteaters jumped back up by six (47-41) with 8:10 on the clock. Berry jumper in the paint at 7:52 gave Long Beach State the spark it needed to creep back into the game as they rattled off six-straight points to even the game at 47-all with 6:29 remaining.

Tori Harris went to the line and sunk both free throws at 5:51 to give LBSU its first lead (49-48) since the first quarter. Both teams got several stops over the next several minutes, before Nevaeh Parkinson made a layup to put UC Irvine up, 50-49, with 1:24 remaining. The battle continued and Kianna Hamilton-Fisher gave Long Beach State the edge it would need as she made a second chance layup with 21.4 seconds remaining to put the Beach on top by one (51-50). Harris went to the line with 4.7 seconds left and sunk the first of two free throws to give LBSU a two-point advantage (52-20).

The LBSU defense was stout in those final minutes allowing just one layup in the last six minutes of action.

Harris led Long Beach in scoring with 15 points, while Berry added 12, and Murphy contributed 10. Kristyna Jeskeova pulled down seven rebounds, while Berry chipped in five boards to go along with four steals, and three assists.

Hunter Hernandez led the way for UC Irvine with a double-double as she finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds. She also recorded three steals and two assists for the Anteaters.

Long Beach State looks to extend its winning streak to nine when it takes on UC Santa Barbara on Thursday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara, Calif. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.