By Jack Haslett
Long Beach State women’s basketball fell short of a comeback against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at the Walter Pyramid on Saturday by a final score of 77-68.
Both LBSU and UCSB players wore pink accented uniforms for the annual Play4Kay Pink Game to promote breast cancer awareness. Minutes before tip-off, both teams lined up and held signs inscribed with the name of someone close to them affected by cancer, followed by a moment of silence.
The night was headlined by frequent trips to the free throw line for the Gauchos.
UCSB knocked down 28-36 from the charity stripe, over double the amount of makes that LBSU had free throw attempts.
“We dug ourselves a hole several times, and we still had an opportunity,” LBSU head coach Amy Wright said. “We won a lot of the battles that we wanted, but it boiled down to fouls on us in terms of sending them to the line.”
Long Beach State grabbed an early lead, jumping up 5-1 after the first three minutes of the game.
The Gauchos came quickly back, tying The Beach at nine apiece with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter.
After securing the tie, it was off to the races for UCSB. The Gauchos closed out the first quarter with an advantage of 24-17, boosted by a layup in the final seconds by redshirt freshman forward Olivia Bradley.
Long Beach State battled to try and get in an offensive rhythm in the early minutes of the second quarter but were denied by the physicality of the Gaucho defense each time.
The Beach didn’t make a shot in the second quarter until graduate forward Rachel Loobie made a second-chance jumper, nearly three minutes into the quarter.
Long Beach State freshman forward Mykelle Richards scored six points and added eight rebounds on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid. The Beach came short of a possible comeback in a 77-68 loss to UC Santa Barbara. Photo credit: Devin Malast
Senior guard and team-leading-scorer Savannah Tucker came alive in the second quarter for The Beach, scoring 10 points while shooting 4-6 from the field.
Tucker finished with a game-leading 27 points while shooting 50% from the field.
“I felt like I needed to step up… and I know just me getting up shots creates more opportunities for my teammates,” Tucker said.
Despite Tucker’s surge, the Gauchos remained well ahead of The Beach going into halftime leading 46-33.
LBSU, seemingly rejuvenated, opened the third quarter with a 5-0 run.
The Gauchos answered back quickly, completing a 7-0 run with 2:22 remaining in the third quarter and extending their lead to 16 points, a margin they rode into the end of the quarter up 65-49.
UCSB went into a slump from the field for the last eight-and-a-half minutes of the game.
The shooting skid afforded a fourth-quarter-comeback opportunity for The Beach, an opportunity that was not fully taken advantage of.
LBSU shot just 6-16 across that same span and came as close as seven on the scoreboard, but were unable to come closer.
Long Beach State out-rebounded UC Santa Barbara 46-40 in total rebounds and held a 22-11 offensive rebound advantage on the glass; but failed to translate many of those rebounds into points.
The loss was The Beach’s third straight and they look to correct course in a matchup against conference rival UC Davis on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 6 pm.
“We’re at a point where we don’t want to plateau,” Wright said. “You don’t want to have your best games in the beginning of the season.”
