BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Coming off a balanced offensive performance that saw four players reach double figures against UC Irvine, Long Beach State turns its attention to CSU Bakersfield on Saturday as Big West play continues. The Beach will look to build on that collective effort as conference competition moves forward.<\/p>\n
RIGHT AWAY<\/p>\n
\u2022 Long Beach State travels to CSU Bakersfield on Saturday as Big West play continues, with the Beach leaning into a defensive-minded identity built on effort, physicality, and experience gained through a demanding early-season slate.<\/p>\n
\u2022 LBSU holds a 10-3 all-time edge and enters Saturday having won 10 consecutive meetings\u00a0with CSU Bakersfield.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Through 14 games, the Beach average 51.1 points per contest, shooting .334 overall and .270 from long range, while forcing 18.7 turnovers per game and averaging 6.6 steals and 2.93 blocks per game, creating transition opportunities and extra possessions.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The Beach showed that identity in their last outing against UC Irvine, recording season bests in assists (21) and blocks (8) while shooting over 40 percent from the field with four in double-figures.<\/p>\n
\u2022 At the center of it all is JaQuoia Jones-Brown<\/a>, one of the most heavily utilized players in the nation. Averaging 36.5 minutes per game, good for seventh in the NCAA, the sophomore leads Long Beach State in scoring (17.1 ppg), rebounding (7.2 rpg), and assists (2.2 apg).<\/p>\n \u2022 Judit Oliva Fernandez<\/a> anchors the paint, providing consistent rebounding and shot-blocking presence. Her 1.8 blocks per game place her third in the conference, and she continues to set the defensive tone inside.<\/p>\n \u2022 Senior Captain Kennan Ka<\/a> offers versatility across the frontcourt, averaging 6.1 points and contributing as both a facilitator and defender, while often drawing tough defensive assignments.<\/p>\n \u2022 Khylee Pepe<\/a> leads the team in steals with 26 and ranks among the Beach’s top rebounders despite playing guard, a testament to her anticipation and relentless effort. ABOUT THE BEACH<\/p>\n \u2022 Judit Oliva Fernandez<\/a> has had extensive experience playing Internationally for Spain in 3×3 tournaments, an experience that she detailed for the Long Beach State Beach Reads series found at www.longbeachstate.com.<\/p>\n \u2022 Other returning players for Long Beach State in addition to Jones-Brown, Richards, Oliva Fernandez and Ka include sophomore guard Christy Reynoso<\/a>, forward Brelynn Brice<\/a> and center Haley Wright<\/a>. The trio combined for 32 games played during the 2024-25 campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Two redshirts also return for Long Beach State. Tairat Samuel-Afolabi<\/a> is a redshirt freshman from Sweden, while Lauren Cummings<\/a> returns after playing 26 games in 2023-24 before redshirting last season.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Khylee Pepe<\/a> gives Long Beach State some veteran experience, joining the program as a senior after spending four years at San Diego State, including one as a medical redshirt in 2024-25. Pepe played in all 35 games for the Aztecs in 2023-24 as a junior, averaging 4.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. In total, Pepe played in 95 games with San Diego State after entering the program as a high school recruit from Bishop Montgomery High School.<\/p>\n \u2022 Long Beach State brought in three high school recruits to join the team this season. Rosie Akot<\/a> is a 6-2 forward whose intensity was noted by Wright, coming from Adelaide in Australia. Morgan Mack<\/a> is a 5-10 guard from Lancaster, who finished her career as the top scorer in Hart HS history, while Brynna Pukis<\/a>\u00a0 was a four-time first-team all-league selection at Glacier Peak High School in Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Long Beach State made two changes to the staff in the offseason. Jesse Clark<\/a> joined the program as an assistant coach, coming to the Beach from the Academy of Art in San Francisco where he was the head coach for the last two seasons, capping over 25 years in coaching across multiple levels. The Beach added Ashley Arroyo<\/a> as the team’s Director of Basketball Operations, while Jashae Lee<\/a> and Raru Archer<\/a> return for their third seasons on staff with Amy Wright<\/a> and Long Beach State.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Coming off a balanced offensive performance that saw four players reach double figures against UC…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":127479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-127478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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