SDSU Turns It Over to Long Beach

San Diego State Coach Earnest Riggins said that he didn’t want his team to run with No. 6-ranked Cal State Long Beach in a Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. women’s basketball game Monday night in Peterson Gym.

So the Aztecs didn’t. The only problem was that Long Beach did. And while SDSU was following coach’s orders, the 49ers were busy running away with a 111-77 victory in front of 512 fans.

After a first half in which SDSU committed 25 turnovers and fell behind, 53-34, the only question left was whether the Aztecs would break their single-game record of 48 turnovers set in 1979 against UCLA.

They didn’t. SDSU had only 15 turnovers in the second half to finish with 40. Still, it hardly mattered.

The 49ers, led by Cindy Brown’s 30 points and 29 by Faye Paige, went on to produce their highest point total of the season and improve their record to 7-0 in conference and 19-2 overall. SDSU, which lost its fourth straight, fell to 4-4 and 11-12.

“We tried to slow things down but we made a lot of mistakes,” Riggins said. “We seemed to break their (man-to-man) press all right, but then we’d turn it over on the offensive end.”

Actually, the Aztecs turned it over everywhere. And once they did, there was no stopping the 49ers.

Led by Paige, one of the quickest players in the country, Long Beach spent what seemed to be the entire evening running 4-on-1 fast breaks.

Carol Brandt had seven steals, Brown had six and Paige had five. As a team, Long Beach had steals.

“We’re a very aggressive team and we like to hound people,” 49er Coach Joan Bonvicini said. “We’re very quick and we were able to take advantage of our steals.”

The victory extended the 49ers’ domination over the Aztecs to 30 games without a loss. San Diego State last beat Long Beach in 1970.

And there’s little to suggest that the Aztecs will be able to break the string when they play the 49ers again in Long Beach on Feb. 18.

SDSU’s only chance Monday came when Jessica Haynes scored on a layin to cut the deficit to 62-49 with 15:24 remaining. Brown picked up her fourth foul on the play and the Aztecs seemed to have some hope.

But Paige scored three straight baskets and Brandt added a basket and a three-point play to extend the margin to 73-49 two minutes later.