Long Beach Fast Break Is Too Much for Aztecs in 106-75 WCAA Loss

The third-ranked Cal State Long Beach women’s basketball team showed 13th-rated San Diego State that there is no substitute for speed as the 49ers ran away with a 105-78 victory in front 1,052 fans in Peterson Gym on Wednesday night.

Long Beach (11-1) took an early 11-4 lead, upped the margin to 52-35 at halftime and never looked back in winning their Western Collegiate Athletic Assn. opener.

San Diego State fell to 13-4 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

“We’re just very versatile and quick at every position,” 49er Coach Joan Bonvicini said. “We like to fast break off of misses and makes. It’s a very organized transition offense. We were very psyched tonight.”

And the 49ers played like it.

Guard Jackie White keyed Long Beach’s first-half surge with 20 points. Countless times, White loomed at half court before taking an outlet pass and sprinting in for easy baskets.

“The last three or four games, Jackie has been on fire,” Bonvicini said. “We like to tell her to put it up. She can shake and bake on people. When she’s on, she just goes crazy.”

White was not the only 49er to go crazy in the first half Wednesday. Long Beach shot 61% from the field in the first half, mostly from close range. The Aztec defense could not be blamed for the outburst, as it spent most of the first half watching White drive for easy baskets.

“The refs called a good game, Cal State Long Beach played a good game, and we just watched it,” Aztec Coach Earnest Riggins said. “They just outran us. We got our butts kicked.”

Plain and simple. White led the 49ers with 29 points while center Kirsten Cummings added 19. Roslind Boger orchestrated Long Beach’s offense from her point guard position and contributed 17 points.

“Ros was the big reason our fast break was so good,” Bonvicini said. “She did a great job of controlling our offense.”

When Long Beach could not run, forward Missy Rand took over. Rand, from San Diego’s Santana High, hit four of five shots from the field and finished with 12 points. Cindy Brown, Long Beach’s leading scorer, had 11.

With the win, Long Beach continued its dominance over the Aztecs, winning for the 21st consecutive time.

San Diego State, a team that has been trying to rise into national prominence, lost for the seventh time in as many tries against top 10 teams over the last two seasons.

“I think San Diego’s a lot better than that,” Bonvicini said. “But they depend a lot on Tina (Hutchinson) and it’s sad to see her out.”

Actually, Hutchinson played 14 minutes Wednesday, but was ineffective and scored only six points. Dee Dee Duncan was the Aztecs’ leading scorer with 17.

“We didn’t execute at all on offense,” Riggins said. “The only way to stop a running team is to control the ball and we didn’t do that. Most of our turnovers and missed shots were turned into baskets.”

The 49ers had a lot of missed shots to work with as they limited SDSU to a 37% shooting effort from the field.

Meanwhile, Long Beach, which tied for the WCAA title last year with USC before being eliminated by the Trojans in the West Regional Final, looked like a team with a good shot at repeating.

“We’re a lot older and better than we were last year,” Bonvicini said.

And, Wednesday night, they were a lot faster, too.