By Marlon Villa
The LBSU women’s basketball growing strength and reputation was put on display, in a win where The Beach led in all four quarters at the Walter Pyramid and celebrated the programs 1,000th victory.
The Beach was able to defeat UC Riverside 68-58 to grow their winning streak to 11 games, the longest since the 2014-15 season.
LBSU’s offense and defense shined during the first half dominating the Highlanders to the tune of a 20 point difference.
It wasn’t until the last two quarters of the game where the Highlanders forced The Beach to tighten up its defense to secure the result.
Redshirt senior guard Tori Harris played a crucial role in the final result by contributing eight rebounds and 17 points.
The Beach shot 50% from the field displaying its authority over the Highlanders, who from the field shot just 36.2%.
In a game where the Highlanders wanted to tighten up the score and The Beach wanted to keep on expanding it, technical fouls weren’t an exception.
Two technical fouls were called in the game one for the Highlanders on Mele Finau and the second one for LBSU on Tori Harris.
The Highlanders commitment to making a comeback was seen in turnovers accumulating 22 points off of them as opposed to The Beach who had 15 points off of turnovers.
After playing a few games with players out for injuries one of The Beach key players senior guard Malia Bambrick returned to the court against the Highlanders.
LBSU women’s basketball player Malia Bambrick attempting to expand the score on her first game back after an injury. Photo by Marlon Villa
With six rebounds and 14 points Bambrick demonstrated why her absence was an impact on the team.
“To get one of your lead scorers back and experience its great, takes pressure off of Kianna (Hamilton-Fisher) who was playing super well and Tori, and Ma’Qhi (Berry) to have to carry it every night,” said LBSU women’s basketball coach, Jeff Cammon.
Cammon attributes the team’s performance and success thus far in the season to its culture.
“It started on day one, we said we wanted to be one of the best programs in the country, We want to compete for tournament championships, regular season championships,” Cammon said. “I’m so proud of where we are on and off the basketball floor culturally.”
The Beach (18-7,13-2) will travel to Hawaii for its next match on Feb 18 at 9 p.m. as the team looks to extend the winning streak to 12 games.
