By snoadmin
In what could be its final week of a losing season, there is no lack of optimism as the Long Beach State women’s basketball team tries to rally in one final attempt at making the NCAA Tournament.
The 49ers begin the Big West Conference tournament today as the No. 6 seed. LBSU finished its regular season 7-22 overall and 4-10 in the Big West. This is a far cry from last season, when they finished the season tied for first place with UC Santa Barbara with records of 18-10, 10-4.
“[I’m expecting] a couple upsets,” said sophomore 49er guard Karina Figueroa. “They don’t really think much of us. That’s fine with us. We don’t care; they just need to be careful.”
Throughout most of the season, Figueroa has been forced to carry the team. With Figueroa and Kaiti O’Brien being the only experienced returning players, head coach Mary Hegarty said her young team has struggled to come together as a group.
“Off the court, they’re good friends, but the clicking on the court has been a little bit slow,” Hegarty said. “I think not having very many returners to look at as examples, they don’t really know what it is they’re trying to get to.”
Figueroa has been the bright spot on the team. Not only is she the second leading scorer in the Big West, but she also leads the conference in points per conference game with a 16.5 average and is second in the conference with a .828 free throw percentage.
“They would give her the ball and everybody would just watch and see what Karina can do,” Hegarty said. “And that was part of the problem. It’s really hard to play 1-on-5.”
Towards the end of the season, Hegarty said the team finally came together and found the dynamic that had been missing all season. Returning post O’Brien and Riverside Community College (RCC) transfer Tyreesha Calhoun have produced offensively for the 49ers. Several freshmen have contributed defensively and started producing much more in recent games.
“In the last month or so, a lot of other players have stepped up and been a little bit more productive in their roles,” Hegarty said. “We’re less likely to just have to watch Karina. Now I think they’re starting to understand they can produce.”
According to Hegarty, the young team is starting to grow. She said freshman forward Brett Timmons has proved herself as a starter, and freshman guard Courtney Jacob is by far the 49ers’ biggest defensive threat, with 25 steals and 20 blocks this season.
“Brett Timmons has really earned the starting position because she can play defense and rebound. She works hard and does what she needs to do,” Hegarty said. “Courtney Jacob has changed some games for us defensively with some deflections and some rebounds and some key baskets.”
As a walk-on, Timmons wasn’t expecting much playing time. But hard work and key plays have earned her a starting role, which she is grateful to have her freshman year.
“It was surprising,” Timmons said. “I just kind of got into the mix, started scoring, started doing a whole bunch of other things.”
The freshmen have no collegiate season with which to compare this one, but returners like Figueroa and O’Brien and transfers like Calhoun were not used to seeing losses pile up.
“Last year’s team was different. They all knew what they were doing,” Figueroa said. “They all knew their roles. We were already a group from the beginning of the season. There [weren’t] many new faces, unlike this year’s team.”
Calhoun transferred to Long Beach after playing two winning seasons at RCC. Last year, RCC’s women’s basketball team advanced to the state final four, and the previous year to the elite eight. Calhoun was a third-team all-state selection and last year’s team Most Valuable Player. She came in this season thinking LBSU was a winning team, like the one she was used to playing with.
“I knew it was going to be different, but I was kind of expecting a faster-paced game,” Calhoun said. “I thought we were going to win more because of last season, but you never know.”
The 49ers begin the Big West Tournament today against UC Irvine at the Anaheim Convention Center. The two teams met last week in the final game of their regular season. LBSU made a strong showing, as Figueroa, O’Brien and Jacob all had career-high nights en route to a 77-63 win.
