LONG BEACH, Calif. – The San Francisco women's basketball team was within one possession at halftime at Long Beach State before succumbing to the 49ers 70-58 at Walter Pyramid Sunday afternoon.
USF and Long Beach State were neck and neck in nearly every category, save one. The Dons committed 24 turnovers that led to 27 points for the Beach. The 49ers earned nine extra points off turnovers and four more points from the free throw line, and that proved to be the difference in the contest.
"It's very hard to win when you turn the ball over 24 times," head coach
Jennifer Azzi said. "We knew coming in that they were going to play the way they played and I just don't think there's any excuse for that on our part. We just ultimately didn't play USF basketball. I don't think we were ourselves tonight and there are certainly things we need to improve on, and Long Beach is a good team."
The battle of one-loss teams went the way of the home squad as the Dons move to 6-2 on the season while the 49ers improve to 7-1.
USF was paced by
Taj Winston's 16 points and seven rebounds in her hometown homecoming, the first for the senior who attended Long Beach Poly.
Rachel Howard added 13 points and two steals in the loss, and
Zhane Dikes went for 10 points, five rebounds and three steals.
USF opened the night with a string of four-straight empty possessions with the final result of a ball lost to the Long Beach State defense. First, a shot clock violation and then a steal for the 49ers defense. A USf travel followed, and then an offensive foul was called. Luckily, the 49ers did not fare well in the early moments of the contest either and the Dons settled into a rhythm. USF inched out to their first lead after Howard drained a three pointed off the pass from Dikes to put the score at 9-8 with 14:31 to play in the period.
USF extended the advantage to three after Winston fought for the offensive rebound and scored the putback on their next possession. The Beach edged back out to the lead before Dikes stole the ball from Alex Sanchez and glided to the basket for the lay-in.
After Long Beach State grew the lead to eight points with under two minutes to play in the period, USF scored eight unanswered to knot the game with 12.5 seconds remaining in the half, before Anna Kim's jumper beat the buzzer to give the Beach a 29-27 halftime lead.
In the second, Long Beach stretched the lead to 10 points after 9-0 run. The scoreless stretch for the Dons was capped by a four-point play by Kim with 14:22 remaining in the contest. USF cut the 49ers lead to nine after Winston's jumper in the lane found its mark with 2:36 remaining, but the Dons could pull no closer, falling 70-58.
The Dons were outshot 42.6 percent to 39.7 percent, and lost the battle of the boards 40 to 39. Neither team fared well from the line, but USF's 8-of-14 effort was surpassed by a 12-of-20 day for the 49ers. Along with Long Beach's advantage in turnovers, the 49ers blocked eight shots in the game. The home team was led by a duo of 13-point scorers in Kim and Raven Benton, and Devin Hudson went for a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double in the victory.
"We were lacking in all the fundamentals," Azzi noted, "aking care of the ball and boxing out and hitting free throws. We didn't shoot well from the free throw line tonight and the game boils down to all those little things that tonight became big things. That combination along with the turnovers cost us the game. We need to change that going forward in order to rebound from this loss."
Next, the Dons travel to Seattle in their final non-conference road contest. USF will face off with the Seattle Redbirds Sunday at 2 p.m.
