Beach
rolls over Cal Poly at Big West
By Toby Lewis
On-line Forty-Niner
 The
Long Beach State women’s basketball team
defeated Cal Poly 76-62 at the Big West
Conference basketball tournament held at
the Anaheim Convention Center Wednesday.
advancing to the semi-final round.
Senior Glory Johnson led the Beach with
18 points and 10 rebounds shooting eight
out of 18 from the field and going two for
two at the line.
Johnson said that the team feels strong
right now, worrying less about individual
performance and playing with a better team
mentality. “We play a lot more team ball
than we have in the past,” Johnson said.
Sophomore guard Candice Wilson also shined
scoring 17 points for The Beach with six
assists and five steals, helping the beach
move to 14-14 record.
“I stick to my defense and when I think
they are not paying attention, I go for
it,” Wilson said, after the game.
Wilson started at guard due to some injured
players who were not able to play.
“We had a lot of good guards that went down.
With all of them out, I had to step up,”
Wilson said.
Wilson’s “step up” consisted of shooting
perfect from three-point range and 8-11
from the free throw line.
Junior Jennifer Baker added 13 points with
14 rebounds and senior Jinga Gosschalk scored
14 points as she was an impressive four
out of seven from three point range.
The Beach got an early jump on Cal Poly
running out to an early 14-4 lead in the
first four minutes. Cal Poly fought back,
however, bringing the score to 25-24 with
five minutes left in the half.
“The last part of the first half we got
in a lot of foul trouble,” Head Coach Dallas
Boychuk-Bolla said.
Boychuk-Bolla said she had to play some
players in positions they are not used to
playing as a result of foul trouble.
The Beach pulled ahead, however, out scoring
Cal Poly 13-2 in the final 2:32 of the period
going into the half with a 14 point lead
of 44-30.
No. 6 Cal Poly entered the game after suspending
six players, including one starter, for
violating team rules. The Mustangs gave
the Beach a good game, however, with a better
shooting percentage in the second half.
In the second half the Beach shot a miserable
21.9 percent from the field compared to
Cal Poly’s more economical 35.5 percent.
Answering the Mustang’s charge Long Beach
State shot an impressive 80 percent, 16-20,
from the free throw line in the second half
to accommodate for the team’s poor second
half shooting.
The Beach also out rebounded Cal Poly 53
to 48, with 23 of those rebounds being grabbed
off the offensive glass. Eight out of Baker’s
team high 14 rebounds were offensive.
The 49ers will have a day to rest and recuperate
today then Long Beach State moves into the
semi-final round of the tournament which
will be played on Friday against the winner
of the Pacific and UC Riverside match-up.
“We’ll be keeping the same game plan we’ve
had all season, but defensively it depends
on who we play,” Bolla said.
The winner of Friday’s game will have the
opportunity to play for the Big West Conference
title in the championship game held on Saturday.
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