Beach
stopped in semi-final by Pacific 71-51
By Toby Lewis
On-line Forty-Niner
Three
point shooting and unforced turnovers proved
to be factors in a 71-51 loss to Pacific
Friday in the second semi-final at the Big
West Conference tournament.
Aside from a pretty well played second half,
the Long Beach State women’s basketball
team went 2-12 shooting, a mere 16.7 percent
from the three-point line for the game.
“Defensively they did a good job against
our three-point shooters,” Head Coach Dallas
Boychuk-Bolla said.
The Beach also had 22 turnovers in the game,
16 of which came in the first half.
“Pacific came out and played a good game.
They were very focused. I don‘t think we
were as aggressive as we could have been,”
Boychuk-Bolla said.
Senior Glory Johnson had another good game
with 19 points and seven rebounds, but it
proved not enough in what was her last game
for Long Beach State.
“We just ended on a bad note. Ending it
on this note is hard,” Johnson said.
Johnson, who gave up six turnovers in the
first half, went 7-10 from the field and
5-7 at the free-throw line.
Candice Wilson and Jinga Gosschalk were
also top scorers for The Beach, with 11
points and 10 points, respectively.
Pacific led going into the half 38-22 with
only nine turnovers compared to The Beach’s
16.
Pacific came out strong in the second half
opening up a 20-point lead in the opening
minutes of the half.
Wilson
finally put in a lay-up for the 49ers after
The Beach went scoreless for the first seven
minutes of the half.
“What we’ve done in the past is move the
ball around and been more aggressive,” Boychuk-Bolla
said. “Our offense wasn’t in flow. A lot
of good offense comes from good defense.”
Long Beach got it together, however, shooting
36 percent from the field compared to Pacific’s
37 percent in the second half.
The Beach also out shot Pacific from the
free-throw line in the second half going
10-13 and shooting 77 percent compared to
Pacific’s 71 percent.
But the Beach was 1-7 from the three-point
line in the second half and was never able
to recover from the 20-point deficit.
Boychuk-Bolla said that the team’s spirits
were down, perhaps, due to the injury sophomore
Christina Mack suffered in Wednesday’s victory
over Cal Poly.
“When Christina was questionable, it really
brought people down. This is someone who
has started for us all year,” Boychuk-Bolla
said.
Mack played in the game despite having a
fractured tailbone and had to stand on the
sideline as opposed to sitting on the bench.
“For the past 24 hours, she has not been
able to sit down,” Boychuk-Bolla said.
The Long Beach State women’s basketball
team finished the season with a losing record
of 14-15 but with a winning record of 10-7
in conference play.
Pacific faced UC Santa Barbara in the tournament
championship on Saturday and lost 68-50.
With the victory over Pacific and seventh
consecutive tournament championship, Santa
Barbara earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Santa Barbara, who finished the regular
season 26-4 and ended the regular season
with a 21-game winning streak, is expected
to be a contender for the final four at
the NCAA tournament.
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