The 49ers’ woes this season continue as they find themselves winless since Dec. 7.
The Long Beach State women’s basketball team (2-17, 0-6 Big West) fell to the Cal Poly Mustangs (10-8, 4-2 Big West), 75-64, behind senior guard Dynn Leaupepe’s 23 points while Davidson paced the 49ers with 18 points and four assists.
According to head coach Jeff Cammon, it would ultimately be lapses in the fourth quarter that doomed the 49ers to a loss.
“We just didn’t execute the things we were doing all-game, for some reason, we didn’t do it in the fourth quarter,” Cammon said.
Although the 49ers started the game off strong, amassing a 10-point lead early in the first half with hot 3-point shooting, the defensive pressure that the Mustangs put on during the second half of the contest wore down Long Beach.
Prior to the fourth quarter, the home team looked more energetic and more comfortable playing with each other as they made determined drives that opened up shots for shooters outside. In particular, senior guard Jessica Gertz was the recipient of many of these opportunities.
“[Gertz] had a heck of a night tonight,” Cammon said. “She shot the ball and that’s what we expect her to do.”
At the end of the first half of play, Gertz’s 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting from three point range paced LBSU who led 32-26.
The Mustangs looked timid in the first half but came out with more emphasis on the defensive end and elected to go to employ a full court press.
This would lead to a back-and-fourth third quarter which saw the 49ers push the tempo on each Mustang make or miss, to get easy opportunities at the basket. This style of play suited freshman guard Shanaijah Davidson who had 10 points in the third quarter and on her way to 18 in the game.
“I was playing at a good pace,” Davidson said. “I was able to outrun the other team so I was getting most of my points in transition.”
Davidson had a different mindset going into this game, compared to previous games and was shocked at how well she played with her assist total.
“I was just looking for my teammates, really,” Davidson said. “Overall, I think we did pretty good this game.”
The defensive intensity by the Mustangs in the final quarter caused the 49ers to shoot 35 percent as well as turn the ball over five times in the period. Cal Poly would end up outscoring Long Beach, 28-12 in the final quarter.
Even with the team’s struggles late in the game, Cammon sees this as a learning experience.
“We’re right there, you guys can tell,” Cammon said. “More than anything, we want to continue to improve.”
Long Beach is back at home at 7 p.m. Thursday to take on UC Davis.