Despite not converting a field goal in the final five minutes of the contest, the Long Beach State women’s basketball team poured in 44 second half points on their way to victory Friday night at the Walter Pyramid.
After a back-and-forth contest that included six ties and 12 lead changes, the Beach defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 74-67, for its second straight Big West conference win.
LBSU (9-11, 4-3 Big West) shot 51 percent from the field and the Mustangs (6-12, 3-3 Big West) could not keep pace in the waning minutes.
The ‘Niners converted six out of eight clutch free throw attempts in the final minutes to seal the victory, with junior guard Jhakia McDonald making four of six and senior forward Tipesa Moorer completing a pair.
Moorer led all Long Beach scorers with 16 points to go with four rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
LBSU received solid play from freshman center Devin Hudson, who in just her fourth conference game compiled 14 points, four rebounds and a steal.
Hudson credited the entire team’s ability to collaborate for the early success in Big West play.
“It is a team effort,” Hudson said. “Coming together as a team since we are so young has not been easy. It looks like we are coming together fast but we started off a little slow, a little rocky.”
Hudson added: “Everyone is here for the right reason, so it makes it easier to come together on the court.”
3-pointers were falling all night for The Beach as the squad matched a season-high by knocking down nine from long range on 20 attempts.
Five different ‘Niners connected from behind the arc, led by a career-high three from junior guard Mary Ochiltree.
Ochiltree scored 11 points to go along with three assists and a steal.
The Mustangs were paced by senior forward Kristina Santiago, who tallied 25 points to lead all scorers. Santiago added a game-high 11 rebounds and 4 steals.
This is no unusual feat for Santiago. The senior is third in the country in scoring, averaging 23.8 points per game to go along with 10.4 boards.
LBSU head coach Jody Wynn knew it would be tough to contain Santiago’s scoring power, so she wanted the team to contain the rest of the Mustangs as much as possible.
“I think for the most part we did a good job on everybody else,” Wynn said. “Aside from turning it over and giving up 16 offensive boards, I think we did a great job tonight.”
Wynn added: “A lot of these kids have not been in this situation. Our kids stepped up big time. It was a team effort offensively and defensively tonight. We shot the ball beautifully from the three-point line which was a big difference.”
The Beach has a week off before facing Cal State Fullerton at the Titan Gym on Saturday at 3 p.m.
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