After surrendering a 20-point lead in the third quarter the Long Beach State women’s basketball team defeated Cal Poly 83-80 Saturday at the Walter Pyramid.
The 49ers (12-6, 3-0) started the game making six straight three pointers, which gave them a 10-point lead after the first quarter.
LBSU’s lead was 20 points in the half way through the third quarter. Cal Poly (6-10, 2-2) fought back and eventually brought the lead down to four points in the final 48 seconds of the game.
But, by then it was too little too late as the 49ers held them off thanks to stellar free throw shooting from senior point guard Anna Kim.
“[Cal Poly] is a good team,” 49ers head coach Jody Wynn said. “They have three of the top scorers in the [Big West] conference and we knew that they were going to get going and I think they capitalized on some of our turnovers and they were able to play downhill.”
The 49ers’ stellar three-point shooting was a huge help in creating the large lead. They ended up scoring the second most three-pointers with 14..
“We knew that every possession was going to be a grind,” Wynn said. “[Cal Poly] is a very well coached team.”
The 49ers at one point in the game drained nine consecutive three pointers without a miss.
Kim led the way for the 49ers by making four out five three pointers.
“I’ve put in extra shots, I go hard at practice and I just [told] myself just like practice nothing is different,” Kim said. “But my teammates did a great job of finding me tonight so credits them.”
Kim finished the game scoring a team high 25 points and also posting up four rebounds, five assists and two steals.
The senior helped seal the game in the fourth as she scored 12 points, six of which came from the charity strike in the final minute of the game.
“Like I said when it comes down to practice it’s the same shot,” Kim said. “Coach always tells us ‘from the time you are in fourth grade that line hasn’t moved’ so shoot the same form, same confidence and it went in tonight so that was great.”
As for the Mustangs, they played an amazing fourth quarter outscoring the 49ers 32-21.
Junior Dynn Leaupepe and senior Hannah Gilbert led the way by scoring a combined total of 21 points in the fourth. Leaupepe would finish with the team high of 23 points.
Mustangs head coach Faith Mimnaugh said that some three pointers in the fourth were key to their comeback.
“We obviously hit some threes there at the end,” Mimnaugh said. “The Leaupepe twins and Hannah Gilbert, I thought, all three of them had fantastic games. If we could have reduced our turnovers then maybe it could have been a different outcome.”
With three straight wins in conference, Wynn feels that there is confidence moving forward, but that the team isn’t satisfied with how they defeated Cal Poly.
“We have some confidence going,” Wynn said. “But we went in the locker room just now and the kids they’re not satisfied. There’s like a weird feeling inside right now just because of the way that Cal Poly finished the game against us. We were lucky to come out with a W and a huge part was Anna Kim and that’s what a senior point guard should do. Is finish the game from the foul line, but every win is a big win because it only counts as one win.”
The 49ers next game will be on the road against UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 19 at the Events Center. Tip off begins at 7 p.m.