Sports, Women's Basketball, Women's Sports

Long Beach State women’s basketball team dominates Biola; wins fourth straight game

The Long Beach State women’s basketball team defeated Biola University in dominating fashion, 76-48 Friday night in the Walter Pyramid.

The 49ers (7-4) were in complete control of every facet of the game, forcing the Eagles (8-4) into 25 turnovers while out-rebounding them 41-28 and snagging 14 steals.

LBSU also dominated the paint scoring 42 points. The 49ers also scored 39 points off turnovers.

“[I’m] proud of the total team effort on both ends of the floor,” 49ers head coach Jody Wynn said. “Most proud of scoring 39 points off of turnovers that we created and doing a solid job on the offensive rebounds.”

The 49ers snagged 24 offensive rebounds, which led to 21 second-chance points. Junior guard Gigi Hascheff led the way with five offensive rebounds.

As for the Eagles, they got 10 offensive rebounds and only scored 15 second-chance points.

The Eagles played a solid first half, but a third quarter collapse and too many turnovers led to their downfall.

The third quarter started with the 49ers going on 15-5 run. LBSU outscored the Eagles 19-9 in the third quarter.

“I thought [LBSU’s] pressure defense forced us to play faster than we wanted to,” Eagles head coach Alan Nakamura said. “We panicked and they did a good job forcing turnovers.”

The 49ers stole the ball six times in the third and forced eight turnovers. Sophomore point guard Martina McCowan had three steals in the quarter and finished the game with a career-high five steals. The 5-foot 9-inch sophomore scored a team high of 11 points.

“We all trust each other and trust what our coaches tell [us] that we will be in the right positions to get the steals,” McCowan said. “So, it was really a team effort and everyone helping each other out.”

The 49ers saw the return of guard Raven Benton who played for the first time since Nov. 27 against USC.

She played a total of 10 minutes and scored two points and dished out two assists.

“Raven’s working her way back,” Wynn said. “We wanted to give her a few minutes tonight. She couldn’t play too many minutes. She’s trying to get her feet under again and get back into practicing. She hasn’t practiced a whole lot. We just got to take it day-by-day and week-by-week with her.”

Junior forward Darshana Ta’afua played for the first time this season and for the first time as a 49er.

Ta’afua transferred over from Long Beach City College and was sidelined do to a knee injury.

The 6-foot 2-inch forward scored her first basket as a 49er in the first 30 seconds of the fourth quarter.

“Honestly, I was really nervous,” Ta’afua said. “But my coaches and my teammates and my trainer they were really helping me out to be comfortable and play because they were telling me it’s not the first time you’ve been playing this game, so they were really trying to pump me up and it was amazing.”

Ta’afua now feels confident moving forward this season and is excited to play for the 49ers for the next two years.

The 49ers are now on a four-game winning streak and will look to make it five as they head to Las Vegas, Nevada to compete in the Play4Kay Shootout. Their first opponent will be against University of Southern Florida on Dec. 19 in the T-Mobile Arena at 12:30 p.m.

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