With only two games remaining for the season, the Long Beach State women’s basketball team is in position to advance directly into the Big West Tournament semifinals.
The top two teams at the end of the season secure places in the conference tournament’s final four. The 49ers (21-7, 10-4) are tied with Hawai’i for second place in the conference; however, the Rainbow Wahine own the tiebreaker after beating LBSU on Jan. 7 and Feb. 11.
LBSU must win out and hope for a Hawai’i loss, or win one of their two remaining games and hope for a Rainbow Wahine collapse.
The 49ers face a pair of must-win situations if they want second place, but 49er head coach Jody Wynn said that the team has to continue playing its game; taking care of the ball, playing defense and finishing offensive possessions.
“These two games are important for us to get better,” Wynn said. “We’re still jockeying for position in the tournament as far as our seeding goes, but most importantly we are trying to peak at the right time and play good solid team basketball.”
Wynn said that the team is approaching these last two games with urgency and that there is a lot of positivity within the locker room.
Junior forward Madison Montgomery said she feels LBSU’s last two games are important, but also said that the team is focusing on playing one game at a time.
“If we don’t [win] obviously we still have a good chance at the championship and we’ll do what we can to work as hard as ever to make it there,” Montgomery said. “But winning these next two games [will] just put us that much closer [and] would really boost us and give us a lot of momentum.”
The 49ers’ next game is against fourth place UC Davis (16-11, 9-5). The Aggies lost to LBSU 75-62 in Davis on Jan. 28.
In that game, junior point guard Anna Kim scored a team-high 18 points. Junior forward Jewelyn Sawyer and sophomore guard Gigi Hascheff both delivered 16 points apiece in the victory.
“I certainly believe that both [LBSU and UC Davis] have improved throughout the course of the year,” Wynn said. “So it’s executing, taking care of the ball, making our teammates better on both ends of the floor through communication and ball movement and finishing possessions.”
The Aggies still hold a slim chance at grabbing the second seed if both LBSU and Hawai’i lose their last two games. The Aggies would have to win out to achieve the second spot.
On Saturday, the 49ers will go on the road for the final game of the season against seventh-place Cal State Northridge (6-22, 4-10).
The first meeting between both teams ended in a 49er overtime win 74-71. Kim scored a team high 17 points. Montgomery contributed 12 points, six of which came in OT.
Wynn said this time around, LBSU must look out for Matadors’ freshman Channon Fluker. The center is one of the most talented players within the conference, leading the Big West with an average of 9.7 rebounds a game.
Fluker scored a team-high 18 points and grabbed 19 boards against the 49ers earlier this season.
The 49ers play their final home against the Aggies on Thursday in the Walter Pyramid; tip-off begins at 7 p.m. and on Saturday the 49ers end their season against the Matadors at the Matadome; tip-off begins at 3:30 p.m.