LONG BEACH, Calif. — With three games remaining in the regular season, Long Beach State is back in the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on Saturday, February 28 to face CSU Bakersfield. The Beach enter at 4-23 overall and 3-14 in Big West play, coming off a win against Cal Poly on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
RIGHT AWAY<\/p>\n
\u2022 Three games remain in the regular season as Long Beach State returns to the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid on Saturday to host Cal State Bakersfield. The Beach are averaging 55.9 points per game while allowing 73.0 for a -17.1 scoring margin. Over the final stretch, emphasis remains on improving shot efficiency, closing the rebounding gap (-3.3 per game) and tightening ball security (18.6 turnovers per game).<\/p>\n
\u2022 Everything offensively runs through JaQuoia Jones-Brown<\/a>. She ranks third in the Big West in scoring at 17.5 points per game and ninth in rebounding at 6.9 per game, while leading the conference in minutes at 37.2 per contest. She is shooting .418 from the field and .836 at the free throw line, production that keeps the Beach within striking distance late.<\/p>\n \u2022 Jones-Brown has five double-doubles this season, tied for the fifth-most in the conference, underscoring her two-way impact. She also ranks among the league leaders in offensive rebounding, generating second-chance opportunities that are critical for a team seeking more half-court efficiency.<\/p>\n \u2022 Khylee Pepe<\/a> provides complementary scoring at 8.8 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. She is coming off a 24-point performance at CSUN and remains a key downhill attacker for a team averaging 10.3 made free throws per game.<\/p>\n \u2022 Kennan Ka<\/a> bolsters the offense with 2.6 assists per game, ranking among the top 15 in the Big West, and shoots .416 from the floor. With Long Beach State posting a 0.7 assist-to-turnover ratio, tempo control and decision-making remain central to closing the season with momentum.<\/p>\n \u2022 In the frontcourt, Rosie Akot<\/a> averages 5.1 rebounds per game and has 19 blocks on the season, providing interior presence on both ends. Brynna Pukis<\/a> is shooting .336 from three-point range, giving needed spacing for Jones-Brown and Pepe in drive-and-kick actions.<\/p>\n \u2022 The first meeting on Jan. 10 resulted in a 75-48 CSU Bakersfield win in Bakersfield. Long Beach State shot 27.5 percent from the field and 20.0 percent from three in that game and were outscored 22-1 in the second quarter, creating a deficit that proved decisive.<\/p>\n \u2022 Jones-Brown led the Beach with 16 points and seven rebounds in that matchup, while Pukis added 11 points off the bench on 3-3 shooting from three. CSU Bakersfield shot 48.3 percent overall and 33.3 percent from three, with Tena Ikidi recording 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven blocks. Limiting paint efficiency and protecting the rim will be focal points in the rematch at the LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONG BEACH, Calif. — With three games remaining in the regular season, Long Beach State is back in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-197300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197300","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=197300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}