The Long Beach State women’s basketball team came back from a big deficit to force overtime, but fell short 90-85 to USC in the Walter Pyramid on Thursday.
“I think we started off the second half believing that we’re just going to chip away possession by possession, and it starts on the defensive end,” head coach Jody Wynn said.
The 49ers (2-1) were down 47-36 in the first half. The stats on both sides were similar, except for the field-goal percentage. LBSU shot 25 percent while the Trojans (2-1) shot 51 percent at the half.
“I thought we competed and we played our hearts out, but we just came up short,” sophomore guard Raven Benton said. “They were just hot the first half, so that was the hardest thing, but at the end, [it was] rebounding and our free throws.”
Benton had a high-scoring game and led the way with 22 points. Benton had 11 points in the first half, going 3-6 in the game and making all four shots from the free throw line.
The 49ers started the second half with three stops in a row to go on a 10-0 run led by sophomore guard Anna Kim to cut the deficit to one at 47-46.
“We asked the girls to concentrate on four-minute stretches,” Wynn said. “Don’t worry about a whole 20-minute second half, just a little bit at a time, and they did that.”
Kim scored seven of the ten points with a driving layup, a jumper and a three-pointer off a steal by Benton. Senior Chantel Dooley added another three to top off the run.
Senior forward Devin Hudson gave The Beach its first lead of the game at 54-52, and from that point on, both teams traded buckets.
“During the second half, they weren’t hitting shots because we were d’ing them up,” Benton said. “We were focused on defense and we were moving the ball around.”
Senior Alex Sanchez had an opportunity to give the 49ers the lead late in the game after she drove in and was fouled with 14.8 seconds left, down 73-74. But Sanchez split the free throws.
On the next possession, the 49ers came up with a steal and Sanchez nearly made a game-winning three-point attempt from the opposing three-point line, but it hit the tip of the rim.
LBSU shot 45 percent, going 5-11 from the free throw line in the second half compared to 14-15 in the first half.
“Unfortunately, we left too many points on the board off the foul line,” Wynn said. “Ten is just too many for this team, and we’re too good of a shooting team to miss two free throws in a row by some of our girls.”
With the 49ers leading 85-83 with 1:30 left in overtime, USC guard Jordan Adams hit a three-pointer to go up 86-85.
LBSU had an opportunity for a put back off a missed 3-pointer, but sophomore Madison Montgomery couldn’t connect. The Trojans had a missed jumper on the other end, but a big offensive rebound that led to a layup by Adams gave USC an 88-85 lead with 17 seconds to go.
The 49ers had one last chance to tie the game, but senior Lauren Spargo missed her three-pointer, and USC secured the rebound and the game.
“We competed toe-to-toe,” Wynn said. “I think it’s a game of runs, [and] they had the last run.”
Kim added 16 points for The Beach, and senior Devin Hudson had 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
USC’s Alexyz Vaioletama led the Trojans with 19 points with Adams adding 15 points.
The 49ers will go on a four-game road trip, starting with the GCI Great Alaska Shootout Tournament in Alaska on Nov. 25 and 26.