The road to the Big West Tournament doesn’t get any smoother for the Long Beach State women’s basketball team.
The 49ers’ final five games are crucial to their positioning in the conference tournament, especially considering that four of the five teams are tournament-bound, and four of the five games are on the road.
And we talk so much about the men’s basketball team’s struggles.
Coach Mary Hegarty knows that headaches await in Cal Poly, UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. Road games have not been this team’s forte this season (2-8). But look on the bright side – CS Fullerton and CS Northridge are the two upcoming games, and LBSU can relish in the fact that it has a presumed advantage over both of them.
LBSU had the Titans cornered at Titan Gym last month with good performances on both sides of the ball, but the 49ers coughed the ball up too many times to secure the win. The Titans visit the 49ers tonight at The Walter Pyramid, and revenge should definitely be on their minds. And that dish could be served tonight – CSF is on a three-game road swing, and is 0-2 so far.
Speaking of the number zero, along comes the 0-21 Matadors, the absolute opposite in talent to their men’s team, which currently leads the Big West Conference. This game will be played at the Matadome, but Northridge has looked like the visiting team on its own court for 10 games this season. This is a team LBSU holds a 26-8 all-time record against, and impossible is defined as this team losing to a troubled squad that allows 21 more points per game than its scoring average.
But we sports fans know that good news always follows with bad news. And the bad news is the three-game odyssey that starts in Irvine, moves along to San Luis Obispo and mercifully comes to an end in Santa Barbara. And all three teams went into The Walter Pyramid earlier this season and wiped LBSU off its own court.
Don’t let UCI’s 6-20 overall record fool you. The Anteaters didn’t play like their record against LBSU on Feb. 2, as they hit seven 3-pointers from all angles and left 49er fans looking for answers to their team’s awful 33-percent shooting night.
The Black and Blue Rivalry matchup is in UCI’s favor right now, and LBSU will have to look for answers to that problem. Although the Anteaters have been on a losing streak since then (they play conference power UC Riverside tonight, and that’s doesn’t look too good for them), they were reeling before visiting The Walter Pyramid, and LBSU gave them just their second win of 2008.
The odyssey gets foggier in Cal Poly. The Mustangs, 76-59 winners over the 49ers at The Walter Pyramid, may have lost in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament last year, but every season is new. Cal Poly made the 49ers remember that earlier this month, and the home game could look like another reminder. If LBSU could bring back that defensive mentality that held the Mustangs to 16 percent shooting in the 70-67 conference tournament win, Cal Poly may be the team at the end of the game remembering something.
But UCSB’s recent record against the 49ers should be a quick reminder for everyone. The Gauchos have won their last four games against LBSU, two of them by double-digits. Four games doesn’t seem too long of a drought, but this UCSB program has been to the finals of the Big West Tournament 11 consecutive years and is currently 11-0 in conference play this season. Eleven is not a favorable number for the 49ers.
Despite the Gauchos’ dominance, they were seemingly held in check in the second half of their first meeting with the 49ers this season, shooting only 38 percent in the second half after finishing the first half with 47 percent. LBSU shot a blistering 59 percent from the field and stayed with UCSB until the end. With that second-half momentum, LBSU could make a game out of its season finale and possibly pull off a monumental upset.
Statements must be made in all five games, because time is running out on junior guard Karina Figueroa and company.
