ANAHEIM — After seeing its eight-point lead shrink to one in the final seconds the Long Beach State women’s basketball team escaped with a 61-60 win against Cal State Northridge Friday at the Honda Center to advance to the Big West Tournament championship.
“I’m just proud of our resiliency,” 49ers head coach Jody Wynn said. “I’m proud of our focus and most importantly I’m proud of our team staying discipline to the game plan for 40 minutes.”
The 49ers started the game off with chitters making one of 11 shots in the first 4:30 of the game and trailing eight to three.
But a four-point play by junior guard Jessica Gertz at the 4:51 mark in the first gave the 49ers the confidence it needed to retake the quarter.
By the end of the first, the 49ers led 20-15.
In the second quarter, 49ers took a quick six-point lead through the first two minutes of the quarter. But CSUN did not stay quiet as they would tie the game up in two separate occasion in the quarter and would only trail 36-35 going into halftime.
Senior guard Raven Benton was the deciding factor into LBSU holding the lead going into the half as she scored 20 points in the first half.
“It was a game plan [to be aggressive],” Benton said. “These are my last few games. I want to do everything I can for my team, so I knew I had to be aggressive early.”
Benton would go on to finish the game with the 22 points, which was the game-high by both teams.
In the third, the game slowed down offensively for both teams, as they both shot 20 to 25 percent from the field.
The poor shooting performance led to a tie score at 48 apiece to end the third.
Once the fourth quarter began, the 49ers up their offensive intensity early on making their first six out of seven baskets, which gave them an eight-point lead heading into the final 4:30 of the quarter.
Just when it looked-liked things were getting out of reach for CSUN, the Matadors fought back as they scored the last seven points by both teams and forcing LBSU to miss all its final six shot attempts.
This last offensive and defensive surged gave the Matadors an opportunity to win the game as they held onto the ball for the final possession of the game.
But a miss three-pointer by freshman Haley Tanabe was all the Matadors had to show for once the buzzer went off.
“Coming within one possession, like I told the group afterwards, I’ll take full responsibility for the last play,” CSUN head coach Jason Flowers said. “Getting them to understand the importance of every single possession is something we try to overemphasize from day one. Regardless if its coaching or parenting, regardless of what you tell them, sometimes they to experience the other end of it to understand the importance of it.”
With the miss basket, the 49ers secured a victory over the Matadors and earned an opportunity to play in the Big West Tournament Finals for the first since 2012, when they lost to UC Santa Barbara 63-54.
The 49ers will play against fourth seeded UC Santa Barbara for the Big West Title tomorrow Saturdayat the Honda Center. Tip off begins at 4 p.m.