W-Basketball: Late run not enough as LBSU loses to USC

Game Summary: Box Score

In a game that pitted the new against the old, Long Beach State’s women’s basketball head coach Jody Wynn, former player and assistant coach of the visiting team, guided her team to a near upset of the heavly favored USC Trojans, losing 83-77 in a game that was not decided until the final seconds.

Based upon this unique scenario, and the fact that the visiting team was also a local Pac-10 team, there was a buzz in the stands and an energy level on the court that has not been seen in the last two or three years.

Feeding off this energy, Karina Figueroa led the determined 49ers down the stretch with clutch three point plays, dazzling passes, and acrobatic drives down the lane - but more importantly, the team put the clamps down on defense not allowing the wide open jumpers that USC (4-3) used to build a 20 point lead early in the 2nd half.

However, USC hit enough shots and made their free throws down the stretch to hold off the surgering 49ers.

Figueroa led Long Beach State (3-4) with a season-best 26 points and a career-high tying 10 assists. Off guard LaTorya Barbee chipped in 15 points on a 6-of-9 shooting, while sharpshooter Lauren Sims scored 14 points. Forward Ashley Bookman led the 49ers on the boards with 9 rebounds.

USC had double-double performances from Briana Gilbreath (21 pts, 10 rbs), Hailey Dunham (13, 10), and Ashley Corral (10, 11).

Long Beach State now goes on the road to face another Pac-10 foe in the University of Oregon. The Ducks are guided by first year head coach Paul Westhead who has coach both men and women at the college and professional levels.

Quotes from the game:

LBSU’s head coach Jody Wynn

“I think we definitely showed our heart and our toughness. We have four losses, but every game we’ve finished with toughness and we’ve finished with heart. And that’s great.”

“They killed us on the offensive boards. You’re not going to win too many games when people double you up on the o-boards.”

“I’m not into moral victories but I’ll take that one.”

LBSU’s point guard Karina Figueroa

“We played our hearts out…I don’t know how else to put it.”

“As a team, we’re growing. This was a good challenge. I think we got the moral victory, I think we did a lot of productive things. We attacked the basket, we made open shots. We missed key rebounds in key possessions, but things happen.”

LBSU’s guard Latoya Barbee

“Nobody expected us to come out and play hard and we did. We never gave up, it was a loss but we don’t feel too bad, we could’ve beat them.”

“We showed heart and toughness. If you keep fighting like that, eventually you win those.”

USC’s head coach Michael Cooper

“I’ll tell you what, that young lady Figueroa is definitely a WNBA player. She keeps you on your toes.”

Images from the game:

Long Beach State's Ashley Bookman drives hard to the basket during the first half scoring the basket

Long Beach State's Ally Wade battles Christina Marinacci of USC for a rebound

LBSU's Karina Figueroa pushes the battle down the court during the first half

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 5th, 2009 at 8:11 pm. It is filed under Basketball, Uncategorized, Women's Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.