Women's basketball team off to good start

By Rick Alonzo, Online Forty-Niner

Monday, November 16, 1998

So far, so good for Long Beach State. The 49er women's basketball team opened its 1998-99 campaign with a win, 72-56, over visiting Fresno State. Although it's just one win in a long season, clearly, it's a good start for 49er Head Coach Dallas Boychuk.

Boychuk's 1997-98 squad won just seven games against 19 losses and Friday night's victory at The Pyramid improves her career 49er record to 34-49.

"People keep asking me about pressure [to win], but I'm fine," Boychuk said after the game.

Fresno opened the game with red-hot shooting and hit 14 of 26 shots, including three of four from behind the arc and a half-court heave from Jessie Farias as time expired.

But Long Beach trailed just 32-30 at halftime and pulled away in the second half. The crowd of 766 saw Fresno commit 28 turnovers, to Long Beach's 25, and surrendered 43 rebounds while collecting 34.

The 49ers shot 44 percent in the game, despite hitting just four of 15 three-pointers. Long Beach's defense clamped down on Fresno in the second half and limited the Bulldogs to just 31 percent shooting, 41 percent overall.

"We started doing better against their screens and we switched better [on defense]," Long Beach center Tomika Cantley said.

As Fresno's starters got into foul trouble, Long Beach paraded players to the free-throw line, hitting 18 of its 27 free throws after attempting just two in the first half.

Farias, Fresno's fiery point guard, committed her third foul in less than two minutes of action with just more than 14 minutes remaining in the game as her team led 40-39.

Long Beach seized the opportunity and guard Kesha Wade's short-range turnaround jumper gave the 49ers the lead. Fresno tied the game at 44 but could get no closer.

Long Beach reserves Chelsea Cooper and 6-foot-8 Rhonda Smith provided spark off the bench.

"Chelsea Cooper picked up our intensity on defense in the second half and got us going," Boychuk said. "We did a good job of passing and having a balanced attack."

The 49ers tallied 20 assists, the Bulldogs 12, and Smith scored nine points, swatted four shots and grabbed four rebounds in 16 minutes of play. Nine 49ers played at least 10 minutes.

Farias scored 13 points and Fresno forward Tiffany Lewis scored a game-high 16 points. Cantley led Long Beach with 12 points, followed by guards Mandy Jacques and Reta Sula's 11 and 10 points respectively.

"I was optimistic coming into this game," Cantley said. "We have a good all-around team and that opens the game up for us."