49er Women Turn a Blowout Into a Hurricane : Long Beach Coach Embarrassed After 105-25 Victory, but Team Really Couldn’t Help It

The Cal State Long Beach women’s basketball team has been rolling over the competition all season. Blowouts are the rule, not the exception. But the 49ers outdid themselves Thursday night when they beat UC Santa Barbara, 105-25. Figure it out. That’s 80 points.

And the 49ers were on the road. Santa Barbara lost like that at home.

After the first 15 minutes, it was a 40-0 game. That’s embarrassing.

Long Beach Coach Joan Bonvicini said that it was embarrassing all the way around. “A game like that is not really very much fun. It’s hard,” she said. “No one likes to lose, period. To lose like that is very hard on the other players. But we had to keep playing hard. I think it would have been more embarrassing for them if I had told my kids not to play hard.

“I will never tell my team not to play hard.”

The 49ers might have been playing hard, but they can’t be accused of running up the score. Bonvicini cleared the bench early. Margaret Mohr had the least amount of playing time with 17 minutes--and she’s a senior starter. Going into the game, Bonvicini knew that her team had better talent and could expect to win easily, so she decided to try to get something out of the game by instructing her players not to worry about scoring but to concentrate on their defense.

The 49ers came out in a full-court press. When it was 30-0, Bonvicini nixed the press.

And still the score went to 40-0 before Santa Barbara scored its first points on free throws with 4:27 left in the half.

The score at halftime was 45-9. Santa Barbara had escaped a shutout and still had hopes for scoring in double figures. Santa Barbara shot 11% in the first half and committed 21 turnovers.

Santa Barbara Coach Darla Wilson told the campus newspaper after the game: “After 12 minutes against the most tenacious, dominating, full-court press in the nation, it was clear we had our hands full.”

Every team in the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. has had its hands full with Long Beach, ranked No. 5 nationally with a record of 18-1. The only game the 49ers have lost this season was to No. 1-ranked Texas in the USC tournament. Long Beach is 8-0 in the PCAA.

This season, Long Beach has beaten Pacific, 114-65; San Jose State, 120-53, and Fresno State, 114-70.

In nonconference games, the 49ers have beaten USC, 87-69, and UCLA, 100-65. Two years ago, UCLA absorbed its worst loss ever (118-65) at the hands of the 49ers.

But this 80-point margin is the biggest ever for the 49ers.

“The difference between our team and some other teams in a situation like this is that we have such depth,” Bonvicini said. “Even though I put in subs, it didn’t make much difference because they played just as well.

“None of my starters played more than 21 minutes.”

The 49ers will play at Fresno State tonight. When they played earlier this season in Long Beach, it was a 44-point margin. But Bonvicini says she’s expecting a closer game this time. “This is a fairly small facility, and they’ve been getting good crowds,” she said. “Last night they had a record crowd here. The game will be televised locally.

“I don’t think they’re looking at it as a grudge match or anything, but I think they’ll be ready for us.”

Let’s hope so.