{"id":82428,"date":"2025-12-05T06:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T06:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/82428\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T06:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T06:21:08","slug":"long-beach-state-drops-big-west-opener-to-uc-santa-barbara-the562-org","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/82428\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach State Drops Big West Opener To UC Santa Barbara \u2013 The562.org"},"content":{"rendered":"

The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a young Long Beach State women\u2019s basketball team searching for its identity, Thursday night offered glimpses of who the Beach can be and provided a reminder of how far they still have to go.<\/p>\n

Despite a gritty defensive performance in the final quarter, Long Beach State dropped its Big West opener 67\u201352 to UC Santa Barbara at LBS Financial Credit Union Pyramid.<\/p>\n

It was more growing pains for the Beach as coach Amy Wright continues to figure out a go-to rotation that\u2019s been marked by injuries and inexperience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going back to being a four-quarter team,\u201d Wright said. \u201cThat second quarter was 21\u201310. When the ball\u2019s not going in, it can\u2019t affect the other end. But when we\u2019re locked in, you see our capability. We held one of the best scoring teams in the conference to seven points in the fourth quarter. That\u2019s who we can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beach (0-7, 0-1) opened the game by dominating the paint, scoring 14 first-quarter points inside. But as UCSB\u2019s shooters caught fire, which led to the Beach straying from the inside-out formula Wright has preached since preseason. Despite the lapse in game plan, LBSU and UCSB were tied at 20 after the first period.<\/p>\n

The Gauchos\u2019 (7-1, 1-0) barrage and a stretch of 15 Beach turnovers that turned into 22 Gauhos\u2019 points swung the momentum as UCSB took a 41-30 lead at halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe clicked offensively in the first quarter, and then we started turning the ball over trying to enter the post,\u201d Wright said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t make great reads. We got robotic. You can\u2019t be a robot and play free basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Down double digits late in the game, they cut UCSB\u2019s lead to 10 by suffocating the Gauchos defensively, but went ice-cold themselves down the stretch. UCSB has four players score in double figures in Jessica Grant (15), Zoe Porter (14), Zoe Shaw (12) and Olivia Bradley (11).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went 2-for-12 in the last eight minutes,\u201d Wright said. \u201cSeven of those were layups. You can\u2019t get going if you\u2019re not hitting the easy ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freshman forward Rosie Akot, who scored eight of LBSU\u2019s 17 bench points, continued her recent upward trajectory, following a 13-point game at Oregon State with another strong showing. JaQuoia Jones-Brown scored a team-high 15 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like offensively I\u2019m not getting in my head anymore,\u201d Akot said. \u201cComing off the bench, I\u2019ve had to adapt to bringing energy, speeding the game up, and helping us get going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wright praised Akot\u2019s approach as emblematic of the growth she hopes to see across the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cRosie running the lane, catching tough passes, finishing \u2013 those things come with experience,\u201d Wright said. \u201cShe\u2019s learning to play freely. That\u2019s what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another young player earning Wright\u2019s trust is freshman guard Christy Reynoso, who logged significant minutes for the second straight game after a strong week of practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s had an excellent two weeks,\u201d Wright said. \u201cIt\u2019s the defensive end for me. Can you defend the game plan? Can you battle? She hit a three, she took a charge \u2014 she\u2019s stacking bricks. That\u2019s how you earn minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a team that lost key contributors early and is still settling into its rotation, Wright believes the performance, despite the record, should serve as encouragement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it shows we can be competitive,\u201d Wright said. \u201cSure, there are question marks about us with our nonconference schedule and now going into conference. But we were in this game. If we clean up the little things \u2013 rebounding, layups, taking care of the ball \u2014 we\u2019re competitive in this conference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because we have losses doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re a bad team,\u201d Akot added. \u201cWe\u2019re growing. It\u2019s going to come \u2013 with the right mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long Beach State will continue its search for a breakthrough win as Big West play rolls on. The youthful Beach hasn\u2019t put together a full 40-minute performance yet, but Wright insists the foundation is forming.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we have is a blueprint,\u201d she said. \u201cNow we\u2019ve got to go make basketball plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beach will be back in action when they head to take on UC San Diego on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The562\u2019s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl. For a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82429,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-82428","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\/82428","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=82428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}