The Long Beach State women’s basketball team will take on defending Pac-12 champions USC on Friday in the Walter Pyramid.
“They’re extremely athletic,” head coach Jody Wynn said. “They have a lot of experience back from that team that went to the NCAA Tournament last year. They’re explosive, they’re athletic, they’re strong and they’re experienced.”
USC is coming off their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2005-06 campaign after winning the Pac-12 Tournament for the first time in school history.
The 49ers (2-0) are coming off two wins against Seattle University and San Diego State. LBSU started the season undefeated for the first time since the 2004-2005 season.
“We’ve been communicating,” senior guard Lauren Spargo said. “We’ve all been on the same page with each other. We move as a unit on defense. I think we’re all playing really hard, and it just flows.”
All ten players that have seen game action have scored in each of the two games. The two redshirt juniors Chantel Dooley and Devin Hudson have come back this season strong after sitting out last season due to injury.
“They’re just such welcome-back additions,” head coach Jody Wynn said. “Just the experience they’ve had and the fact that they provide something that we don’t have without them – Devin’s length and offensive rebounding ability and Chantel’s explosiveness and strength.”
Hudson is averaging 14.5 minutes a game, and she leads the team with five blocks. Dooley has the third highest field goal percentage on the team at .571, and she is averaging seven points a game.
LBSU leads the all-time series record against USC (1-1) at 36-20, but the Trojans have won the last four meetings against the 49ers.
“We have to value the ball offensively,” Wynn said. “On defense, we have to get back on defense and get our team defense set.”
Sophomores Anna Kim and Raven Benton lead the team in rebounding. Benton has 20, and Kim has 11. Benton scored a career-high 26 points in the last meeting against USC.
Montgomery is the starting center for The Beach, averaging 25 minutes per game, and is second on the team with 10.5 points per game.
Senior guard Hallie Meneses has been orchestrating the offense, dishing out a team-high 15 assists in the past two games. She is averaging the most minutes on the floor with 32.5 and 9.5 points per game and has a team-high five steals.
Seniors Alex Sanchez and Spargo came off the bench averaging double-digit points. Sanchez averages a team-high 12 points and Spargo averages 10 points per game.
The 49ers’ pressing defense was a problem for the last two opponents, forcing 24 turnovers against Seattle and 27 turnovers against SDSU.
“We’ve been playing as a team both ends of the floor,” Wynn said. “We’re willing to make the extra pass, [and] we’re not playing selfishly offensively. Defensively, we’ve done a good job of getting back and forcing teams to play against our half-court defense.”
Two seniors on USC, forwards Kaneisha Horn and Alexyz Vaioletama, lead the Trojans in points. Horn averages 10.5 points per game while Vaioletama averages 10. Sophomore forward Drew Edelman leads the team with 10 rebounds in the past two games, averaging five rebounds per game.
The 49ers will host the Trojans inside the Walter Pyramid at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.