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sports
Gauchos halt
Beach's playoff run once again
By Michelle Siazon
On-line Forty-Niner
The Long Beach
State women's basketball team ended its season with an 83-65
Big West Tournament semifinal loss to top-seeded UC Santa
Barbara Friday at the Anaheim Convention Center -- the fourth
year in a row LBSU has lost to UCSB in the Big West Tournament.
"I wanted to come out today and give them our best game,
so we could get that monkey [UCSB] off our back," LBSU
coach Dallas Bolla said.
"What's frustrating is that we didn't give them our best
game. At times we came out and were focused, but we made a
lot of mistakes and did some things we shouldn't have."
The fourth-seeded 49ers were led by junior center Glory Johnson's
14 points, and 12 points each from seniors Tamara Inoue and
Crystal Givens. Senior forward Ekuah Ramsey, the Big West
Conference's leading scorer with 16.9 points per game, scored
only two points for The Beach.
"I have three really good seniors that have played really
hard for me," said Bolla. "Ekuah was actually really
sick with the flu for the last couple days and we didn't know
if she'd be able to play today."
Santa Barbara led by as many as 22 points in the second half.
Four Gauchos scored in double figures, including Big West
Player of the Year Kayte Christensen with a game-high 18 points.
Lindsey Taylor, Mia Fisher and Lisa Willet each added 12 points
for UCSB.
"They're a good team, but it's not that they're not beatable,"
said Givens. "It's more mental, we have a lot of younger
people on our team that get down when [UCSB went] on a run,
but we just have to get over that hump and realize we still
have to play no matter what happens, and we still have to
fight through this."
The Beach led by five points early in the first half, but
the Gauchos came back with a 15-2 run and went into halftime
with a 36-28 cushion.
"Santa Barbara always comes ready to play us, they're
not necessarily a better team, but their mentality is a big
difference," Inoue said. "We get a little more nervous
than they do and they've been the champions ever since I've
been here.
"They know what it takes to win. I think we're still
trying to find that."
In a quarterfinal game Wednesday, The Beach defeated Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo, 77-72, behind the double-figure scoring performances
of three 49ers and torrid second-half shooting.
The 49ers were down by 10 points at halftime, but came back
in the second half to shoot 58.8 percent from the floor. The
Beach opened the second half on an 18-8 run.
Ramsey had 24 points and 10 rebounds, Givens had 19 points
and 12 rebounds, and Inoue added 13 points to help carry out
the victory over the Mustangs.
"I think we came back strong in the second half,"
said Bolla. "Our seniors just stepped it up and led by
example."
UCSB (25-5) went on to win its sixth consecutive Big West
Tournament title, defeating third-seeded Pacific, 64-53, Saturday
to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
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Tom Carey/On-line
Forty-Niner
Crystal Givens drives to the hoop against
Cal Poly SLO Wednesday. The 49ers beat the Mustangs, but lost
to UC Santa Barbara in the semifinals.
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