Thanks to a last-second jumper by junior guard Raven Benton, the Long Beach State women’s basketball team advanced to the Big West Tournament semifinal with a 54-52 victory over Cal Poly.
With two seconds left on the game clock, Benton took a desperation, fade away jumper off a pass from junior guard Jewelyn Sawyer to seal the win on Wednesday inside the Bren Events Center in Irvine.
Benton, who went scoreless in the first half, made 11 points in the second, just four of which came in the final quarter.
“On the last shot I just felt it was good,” Benton said. “I tried to give [up] the ball, [but] I saw my teammate stuck. So the clock was running down and I shot it.”
Benton made the big shot, but she credited her entire team as the reason why the 49ers got the win. For the first time this season, the Mustangs outplayed the 49ers in the fourth quarter, but LBSU did enough to grab the victory.
“It only takes two possessions and the lead’s gone,” Mustang head coach Faith Mimnaugh said. “I can’t get a substitute up there quick enough when [LBSU] turn up the heat and they’re heading downhill.”
The 49ers snapped out of their first-half funk, taking command in the third quarter with a 16-5 run that lasted over five minutes.
“I had to burn two timeouts in that run, which I hated,” Mimnaugh said. “Doesn’t mean we had anything at the end, so that was costly.”
That run not only gave the 49ers their first lead of the game, but their largest lead of the night with 10 points. Offense aside, LBSU head coach Jody Wynn credited her defense for bringing the 49ers into the game. LBSU also forced eight turnovers and grabbed five steals during its five minute run.
“I think our defensive presence in the full court kept [Cal Poly] from having such a long possession in the half court,” Wynn said. “Our intensity from our press really ignited us offensively and gave us a little bit more energy to defend.”
Despite a strong second half by LBSU, the 49ers opened the game missing its first six shots and letting Cal Poly get a quick six point lead. Sophomore guard Cece Wilson ended the drought and put the 49ers on the scoreboard for the first time at the 7:42 mark.
LBSU continued to struggle from the field the rest of the first quarter. The 49ers shot 25 percent from the field and went one for four from behind the arc.
“I think we were really tight,” Wynn said. “We came out and really just kind of pressed it. I think every shot we took was long. We missed free throws, we shot really long hard balls off the iron. We were just pressing.”
The bad shooting carried over into the second quarter where the 49ers still shot 27.3 percent from the field, but turned up the pressure defensively as they stole the ball five times, had two blocks and forced the Mustangs to shoot 23.1 percent from the field.
Mustangs’ senior guard Beth Balbierz and sophomore guard Dynn Leaupepe carried Cal Poly offensively in the first half, scoring eight points apiece.
Balbierz put up the team-high 17 points, but failed to finish the game as she fouled out with 2:33 left in the game.
Balbierz’s absence cost the Mustangs as Cal Poly scored only four points down the stretch.
Junior guard Anna Kim led the 49ers with 15 points, 10 of which came in the first half.
LBSU moves on to the semifinals to face second place Hawai’i at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Tip off begins at 2:30 p.m.
