From Reports By Long Beach State Sports Information Department

The Long Beach State women’s basketball team showed the world, and themselves, that they can light up the scoreboard as they picked up the first win of the 2008-09 campaign in convincing fashion, defeating San Jose State, 83-59, Friday night at the ‘Myd.  LBSU shot 40.5 percent from the field, while holding SJSU to 33.9 percent. The Beach also dominated on the boards, out rebounding the Spartans, 55-35.

Four 49ers scored in double digits, led by Courtney Jacob, who posted her second career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. She added four assists, four blocks and two steals while Lauren Sims poured in 15 points on a 5-for-10 shooting performance. Whitney Fields and Ally Wade chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The two teams went back and forth in the early going with four ties and five lead changes in the first nine minutes of action. LBSU then went up 16-15 when Melanie Lisnock hit a jumper at the 11:28 mark and the 49ers never looked back from there. Sims would go on to spark a 14-3 run with 10 points in a five-minute span, giving The Beach a 25-18 advantage.

With a solid effort on the defensive end, the 49ers held the Spartans without a field goal for nearly six minutes late in the period and a pair of free throws by Lynea Williams with 1:51 on the clock gave LBSU a comfortable 19-point lead (45-26) at the half.

Long Beach State continued right where it left off after the break going up 55-26 by way of a 9-0 run, thanks to a quick seven points from Ally Wade. The 49ers would lead by at least 24 points the rest of the way, and held their largest advantage of the game when Ashley Bookman’s layup made it 74-38 with 6:53 remaining.

The 83-59 win marked LBSU’s largest margin of victory since Jan. 28, 2006, when the 49ers defeated UC Irvine by 29 points (79-50).

Long Beach State continues its non-conference slate on Monday, Nov. 24, when it heads to Loyola Marymount for a 7pm contest.