Sports, Women's Basketball, Women's Sports

LBSU saddles San Diego State, Portland State

The Long Beach State women’s basketball team opened its season by dominating San Diego State 74-54 on Friday night, then defeated Portland State 89-71 on Sunday inside the Walter Pyramid.

Although LBSU (2-0) had a good night statistically, the Walter Pyramid was dead silent for a moment in the fourth quarter of yesterday’s game when junior guard Anna Kim rolled her ankle. Kim started to cry when she was on the floor and had to come out of the game because she knew the effect a potential injury might have on the team.

“Anna will be ok, she turned her ankle,” LBSU head coach Jody Wynn said. “She has ankle issues regularly to be honest. She was scared more than anything but she will be good to go come Thursday.”

For Wynn, every time a player makes a movement or notion, it is nerve-wracking because she hopes that no one gets hurt.

“Jew [Jewelyn Sawyer] got hit in the head, Cece [Cecily Wilson] got hit in the head, Anna rolled her ankle, but they all bounced back up somehow,” Wynn said. “It’s the nature of the sport, it’s a contact sport. We understand that and we just have to be more fundamentally sound and aware.”

On Sunday, the 49ers continued to expose opposing offenses, when they forced the Vikings into 30 turnovers and parlayed those into 32 points.

“To me, that’s outstanding,” Wynn said. “It complements their effort on the defensive end. And their ability to get in their presses and move with the ball was really good. They either scored it, or we stole it because our half-court defense wasn’t very good.”

LBSU shot well from behind the line in the first half, making 10 of its 18 attempts. But in the second half, the 49ers made only three three-pointers, a 21.4 completion rate.

Sophomore Jessica Gertz made the 49ers last shot of the game, which was a three pointer from the perimeter, with 2:49 left on the clock. Portland State (0-2) did manage to get to the line 34 times, as opposed to LBSU, who only had 13 free throw attempts in the game.

“We sent them to the line on almost every possession,” Wynn said. “We needed to get to the line in order to stop some of the bleeding.”

Freshman forward Chanterria Jackson showed her mid-range game against the Vikings. The Texas native had a game-high 16 points, completing six of eight field goal attempts, and was two for three from beyond the arc.

Wynn said she calls Jackson “money mid-range,” because her mid-range jumper is her best weapon.

“I wasn’t really looking for my personal shot, my teammates kind of just found me,” Jackson said. “It gives me a lot of confidence because a lot of my teammates don’t shoot the mid-range and I guess that’s my strongest point. Playing here, I tried to expand on that three-point range, but ‘mid-range’ is definitely my go-to.”

The 49ers did have four other players finish the game in double digits ­– juniors Madison Montgomery and Kim scored 13, Sawyer finished with 14 and junior Raven Benton had 10.

With 1:40 left in the second quarter, Benton took a blow when she drew a Viking charge but was lifted up by her teammates. She then found an open Kim on offense, who scored and extended the 49ers lead to 50-27 before the end of the first half.

In the opening night of the season, LBSU’s full court press defense caused havoc for the Aztecs offense. SDSU turned the ball over a total of 21 times.

“It was really challenging,” SDSU head coach Stacie Terry said. “They took us out of everything we wanted to do, turned us over a couple of times. And then I think we became passive, and with the passive play came a lot of turnovers. They did a great job of taking us out of our pressure.”

Terry said that the 49ers did a good job of forcing the Aztecs to play to the 49ers’ speed.

LBSU then got a big lift offensively from Sawyer, who scored 20 points. Last season, she averaged 2.4 points per game and was known more for her defensive abilities.

“I think it just came down to my confidence,” Sawyer said. “Because sometimes I would do this in practice but it never translated to the game because I wasn’t confident enough. Practicing hard, consistently doing in everything and putting in time after practice when I don’t have to, just gives me confidence during the game.”

Benton picked up from where she left off last season, scoring 13 points, grabbing six rebounds and picking off three steals against the Aztecs.

“Getting back, I had to slow the game down a little bit and I just played my heart out,” Benton said.

The 49ers will play in Houston against the University of Houston Cougars on Thursday at 5 p.m. PT, then travel to Baton Rouge for a game against LSU at noon PT on Saturday.

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