By A chilly Missoula night cooled down the Long Beach State women’s basketball team and snapped an opportunity to extend its win streak on the road.
After an efficient shooting night against Arizona on Tuesday, the 49ers went on to shoot 35.3 percent from the field against the Golden Eagles.
In the first day of the Lady Griz Classic, LBSU (1-6) suffered a 64-58 loss to Oral Roberts (3-2) for its first matchup in school history.
The small ball lineup that took on Arizona made its second appearance of the season, but with a completely different outcome.
Freshman guard Shanaijah Davison had a poor shooting night going 2-of-15 from the field, and ultimately hindering the 49ers offense. Freshmen center Emma Merriweather did not make her usual impact due to early foul trouble, she only attempted four shots and made just one.
The offense was overall stagnant throughout the night, with the whole team only totaling seven assists. Another factor was the lack of intensity by the 49ers. Oral Roberts outrebounded Long Beach 40-33, had seven more steals, and two more blocks. The Golden Eagles did turn the ball over 26 times, but the 49ers added 20 crucial turnovers that cost them the game.
Long Beach had trouble crashing the glass which led to 15 second-chance points for Oral Roberts.
The first half was a scoring nightmare for the 49ers only being able to score 22 points. The team did come out in the second half a lot more aggressive, but it was not enough to overpass the Golden Eagle’s offense.
Freshman guard Mason VanHouten led the team with 10 points and two rebounds, while sophomore guard Aaryon Green provided a spark off the bench with nine points, five rebounds and two assists.
Long Beach looks to bounce back today at 6 p.m. against Montana (0-5) to get back into the win column.
