Story By LBSU’s Andrea Ohta

The Long Beach State women’s basketball team was unable to climb back from an early deficit in a 73-57 loss at Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday evening.

Led by junior Whitney Fields’ career-high 16 rebounds, the 49ers owned a dominating 55-40 advantage on the boards, but the Roadrunners were able to counter that by shooting 38.2 percent from the field and holding The Beach to a 33.3 field goal percentage.

Senior Kaiti O’Brien paced the 49ers with her first double-double of the season as she tallied 10 points and 12 rebounds. Junior Courtney Jacob added a team-high 11 points, while senior Lynea Williams chipped in 10.

LBSU (3-13) struggled on the offensive end in the early going, allowing a hot-shooting CSUB team to jump out to a 17-0 lead. Junior Lauren Sims finally got the 49ers on the board with a jumper at the 12:47 mark, but the Roadrunners would eventually go up by 20 points (26-6) with 7:08 to play in the first half.

The Beach then started to find its rhythm late in the period, going on an 8-0 run to close the gap to 26-14, but behind Phynique Allen’s 18 first-half points, the home team would take a 42-27 lead into the break.

The 49ers carried some momentum into the second period, going on an 11-4 spurt, capped by a Melanie Lisnock three-pointer, to pull within eight (48-40) at the 15:15 mark. CSUB responded, however, hitting back-to-back three’s to regain its double-digit lead. The home team would maintain a comfortable advantage the rest of the way as the closest the 49ers came was within 12 points.

Allen led the Roadrunners with a game-high 22 points, while Christine Kepenekian chipped in 18. Katie Williams recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Long Beach State will return to Big West play on Saturday, Jan. 17, when it heads to Cal State Northridge for a 4pm showdown.