First-year head coach Jody Wynn will face a team featuring players she helped recruit when the Long Beach State women’s basketball team faces USC tonight at 7 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.
“They’re All-American caliber so we’re definitely the underdog,” Wynn said about the upcoming contest.
In preparation for their match against the Pacific-10 Conference opponent, senior center Lindsey Beckner said the team “worked on all defense.”
“We put in two new defenses, a combination of a zone and [man-to-man] to take away their best three players,” Beckner said.
The three players Beckner is referring to are Ashley Corral, Brianna Gilbreath, and Aarika Hughes. Corral is the leading scorer for the Trojans with 15.5 points per game. Gilbreath and Hughes are also averaging double digits, with 11.3 and 10 ppg, respectively.
The Beach (3-3) returns home after playing four games on the road, with wins over Texas-Pan American and Rice. LBSU also had losses to New Mexico State and the University of Miami.
“We got better this weekend in Miami, we competed at a very high level,” Wynn said. “We won a close game down the stretch and we needed that, we’re fighting through adversity.”
The ‘Niners will have a tough time matching up with the Women of Troy (3-3), who are coming off wins against 13th-ranked Texas and 19th-ranked Mississippi State, as they have eight players listed at 6-feet or taller.
The Beach will be without 6-foot-1, preseason All-Big West selection Whitney Fields who was dismissed from the team earlier this week for a “violation of team rules.”
LBSU leads the series against USC, 36-17, but lost to the Trojans 85-50 when the two teams last met on Nov. 10, 2006 — a loss Beckner remembers vividly.
“We played them freshman year and they beat us pretty bad,” Beckner said. “It’s kind of like a revenge game.”
Thursday’s game will provide Wynn with extra incentive to win against her alma mater.
“We want to beat every team on our schedule and they’re our next opponent,” Wynn said.