LBSU senior guard Khylee Pepe drives the ball to the basket against Portland during a home game at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on Thursday. Pepe had seven points in the loss. Ethan Cohen | Long Beach Current

Despite a strong first-half performance and a second-quarter buzzer-beater from sophomore guard JaQuoia Jones-Brown, Long Beach State women’s basketball fell short 94-58 in its matchup against Portland University at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on Thursday, Dec. 11. 

In pursuit of their first win of the season, the winless Beach fell to 0-9 after a defensive battle with the Pilots, who forced 22 turnovers in their road victory. 

Both teams looked to create pressure on the defensive side of the ball to begin the contest, as both teams combined for five turnovers in just the first five minutes of play. The Beach had their hands full early with the Pilots’ full-court press. 

LBSU sophomore Brynna Pukis made a heads-up play by stripping the ball and delivering a dime pass to Jones Brown for a layup to give The Beach an early 6-5 lead. 

The Pilots started to pull ahead early in the second quarter as graduate guard Nicole Anderson made two long-range threes to go up 22-16. 

However, The Beach stormed back with Jones-Brown hitting a last-second mid-range jumper at the buzzer to trim the deficit to 31-28 at halftime. 

LBSU’s leading scorer in all but one game this season, Jones-Brown not only led The Beach at halftime with 12 points, but also led the team with seven rebounds. 

“That’s a shot I work on all the time with our coaches,” Jones-Brown said. “I saw I had a mismatch inside and just thought to myself, give me the ball and let me do the rest.”

In the third quarter, LBSU hit a wall as the Pilots again went to a full-court press, with more success after the break. 

The Pilots created three straight turnovers that resulted in three consecutive Portland scores and ultimately started a 19-2 run in the first six minutes of the third quarter.
“They switched some stuff up on the full-court press, our two inbounders were locked out from getting the ball and our two frontcourt forwards needed to come up and help but stood still,” LBSU head coach Amy Wright said. “It’s going to take five people to beat the press, not four, not three, five. It’s going to take five people on every possession and they will start to see results”.
LBSU eventually stopped the run with a highlight-reel worthy pass by junior Kennan Ka to Jones-Brown for an easy two-point bucket, which halted the Portland run. 

LBSU sophomore guard JaQuoia Jones-Brown calls out a screen during a home game against Portland on Thursday, Dec. 11. Jones-Brown tallied a game-high of 25 points in the loss. Ethan Cohen | Long Beach Current

However, Portland’s size difference in the full-court press had The Beach struggling, ultimately causing five turnovers and eight second-chance points for the Pilots in the 3rd quarter alone.
Jones-Brown would have another big night for Long Beach State, grabbing 25 points and nine rebounds on 8-for-21 shooting.

“I was talking to coach [Wright] before the game and she told me, ‘Tonight I want you to score. I don’t want you to be a distributor,’” Jones-Brown said. “I just know I have to get my teammates involved.”

Ultimately, things would get out of hand in the fourth quarter as Portland’s freshman center, Julia Dalan, would take over the second half. 

Dalan had 13 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots to help Portland secure 50 points in the paint and beat LBSU 94-58. 

The Beach has a tough road ahead of them as they continue the search for their first win of the season on the road against the No. 4 UCLA Bruins on Saturday, Dec. 20.