If the Long Beach State women’s basketball team was looking for a confidence boost after dropping its last game by 18 points, then a road victory against UC Davis on Thursday would have been a step in the right direction.
However, the Aggies used a 15-0 run in the second half to topple the 49ers, 85-67, at The Pavilion.
Brandi Henton paced the ‘Niners (3-15, 1-4 Big West Conference) with 25 points — 19 of which came in the first half — while Tipesa Moorer added 14 on 6-of-9 shooting. Melanie Lisnock also chipped in with 12 on 5-of-7 from the field.
Meanwhile, Paige Mintun’s 15 points led the way for the Aggies (13-4, 3-2 Big West), who hold the best overall record in the conference. Samantha Meggison added 13 and game-high seven rebounds, while Heidi Heitz scored 12 and grabbed six boards.
After trailing, 54-50, with just under 14 minutes left to play, LBSU surrendered four unanswered 3-pointers in a four-minute span. From there, the Aggies pushed their lead out to 19 points, 69-50, after a layup from Heintz with 8:57 remaining in the game.
The Beach responded by cutting the deficit down to 14 after scoring five consecutive points, but that’s as close as it would get as the Aggies easily held on for the 18-point victory.
Despite holding UC Davis to a dismal 28.2 percent from the field (11-of-39) in the first period, The Beach finished with 27 turnovers to the Aggies’ 16. As a result, LBSU surrendered a whopping 34 points off turnovers, while UC Davis gave up only eight.
The Aggies recovered from their first half shooting woes by going 17-of-26 from the field (65.4 percent) in the second period, while the ‘Niners shot just 9-of-25 (36 percent).
The Beach opened up the contest with a 6-0 run that was capped by a jumper from Moorer with just over two minutes gone by. In that span, the Aggies missed their first eight shots before Mintun stymied the surge with a corner 3 at the 17:24 mark.
From there, LBSU outscored UC Davis, 12-7, down the stretch to take an eight-point lead after a straightaway 3 and fastbreak layup from Henton with just under 10 minutes remaining.
But the Aggies responded after a 3-pointer from Vicky Deely prompted an 11-2 run that gave them their first lead of the game, 21-20.
Both teams then traded baskets before UC Davis scored five unanswered points, including a 3-pointer from Lauren Juric to close out the half with a 38-35 edge.
Although the ‘Niners were only out-rebounded, 36-34, the Aggies held a 19-12 advantage on the offensive glass.
LBSU will look to snap its two-game skid as it wraps up its four-game road swing against Pacific (4-13, 1-3 Big West) on Saturday. Tipoff at the Alex G. Spanos Center is slated for 4 p.m.
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