In its first road game of the season, the Long Beach State women’s basketball team suffered a 69-56 defeat to New Mexico State in front of 1,033 fans at the Pan American Center on Friday evening. The 49ers shot a season-low 31.7 percent from the field and 21.4 percent from 3-point range (where sharpshooters Karina Figueroa and Lauren Sims were a combined 1-12). The Beach also had a season-high 29 turnovers.
Figueroa hit the 20-point mark for the third straight game, while adding five rebounds. Classmate Ally Wade chipped in 16 points and Sims added 11. Junior Ashley Bookman led The Beach on the glass with a career-best 11 boards. Long Beach State, which posted a 40.7 field goal percentage in the first half, held the Aggies to just 28.6 percent, but committed 17 turnovers to allow NMSU to stay in the game.
After Ashley Scroggins made a 3-pointer on New Mexico State’s first possession, the 49ers proceeded to go on a 6-0 run, capped by a Figueroa jumper, to take a 6-3 advantage at the 16:06 mark. New Mexico State continued to stay close and regained the lead at 10-8 with 13:42 to play. Lindsey Beckner eventually evened the score with a jumper, ending a nearly five-minute scoring drought for both teams.
LBSU took a 29-25 lead into intermission after Wade sank a 3-pointer with 1:00 on the clock.
The tides turned in the second half as the Aggies shot 42.4 percent from the field and held The Beach to just 24.2 percent.
NMSU came out of the break on fire, scoring seven unanswered points to take a 32-29 advantage with 17:51 to play. LBSU tied it up at 32-32 on a 3-pointer by Wade, but NMSU then went on a 22-2 run to take a 16-point lead (52-36) at the 9:43 mark. The Aggies never looked back from there, going up by as many as 21 and holding on for the 69-56 win.
Crystal Boyd led New Mexico State with 17 points, while Madison Spence and Danisha Corbett each had 12. Tabytha Wampler added eight points and 11 rebounds.
The Beach returns to action on Sunday, Nov. 22, when it heads to the Lone Star State to take on Texas-Pan American at the South Padre Island Convention Center. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. CT/11 a.m. PT.
From LBSU reports