Sophomore guard JaQuoia Jones-Brown leadsThe Beach with season-high score of 29 points at the Gold Mine on Saturday evening. Despite Jones-Brown’s efforts, LBSU would go on to lose 57-54 to Sacramento State. Diego Perez | Long Beach Current
Long Beach State women’s basketball team continues to struggle after falling apart late and dropping their fourth game in a row against Sacramento State in a heartbreaking 57-54 loss on Nov. 15.
The game was highlighted by sophomore guard JaQoiua Jones-Brown, scoring a season high 29 points in the contest.
The Beach (0-4) was ultimately outdone in the second half by the Hornets (4-1), who outscored them 34-24, as a last-second potential game-tying three-pointer by Jones-Brown hit off the side of the rim as time expired.
The Beach started strong, grabbing its largest first-quarter lead all year, highlighted by Jones-Brown, the Beach’s leading scorer so far this season, tallying seven points early in the contest.
LBSU also won the rebounding battle early on, while the defense forced Sac State to 24% shooting in the first quarter, including 1-for-8 from behind the arc, to grab a 15-10 lead after the first quarter.
“I thought we did a great job defensively; they stuck to the game plan, but we need to have more than one ball-handler.” LBSU head coach Amy Wright said.
LBSU opened the second quarter with a 6-0 run to put them up by 11 early in the quarter. Sac State responded, going on an 8-0 run, while LBSU was held without a field goal for over four minutes.
LBSU held onto their lead going into the half, their first halftime lead of the season, by claiming the upper edge with a score of 30-23; however, The Beach saw their lead dwindle to start the second half, as the Hornets immediately fought back, going on a 10-0 run to cut the lead down to two.
Freshman guard Brynna Pukis kept her defensive guard and assisted The Beach, playing for 32 minutes at the Gold Mine on Saturday evening. Diego Perez | Long Beach Current
Sac State went 3-8 in three pointers in the third quarter, shrinking LBSU’s lead by just one point entering the fourth quarter. Jones-Brown continued her hot scoring, tallying over half the points scored by LBSU with eight points in the quarter.
With a couple of their starters in foul trouble, LBSU had to rely heavily on their bench in the quarter, as they continued their back-and-forth battle.
Jones-Brown continued her dominant scoring, but the team shot just 25% from the field in the fourth quarter.
Sac State senior guard Benthe Versteeg hit a layup to put them up by three with five seconds to go, which proved to be the difference-maker in the contest.
“This just shows that we know that we can do it, and we’re capable of winning, and we’re only going from here…we did a lot of good things today, so we need to go work on it and build off of that,” Jones-Brown said.
LBSU shot 38% from the field and struggled from the three-point line, connecting on 2-10. They also struggled off the bench, scoring only two points and giving up 18 turnovers.
“We want to win…it’s a young team, and we’re still continuing to grow, and this is something we can build off of,” Wright said.
LBSU looks to break through for its first win of the season as it wraps up its homestand against the San Francisco Dons at 6 p.m. on Nov. 20 at the Walter Pyramid.