West Regional at Cal State Long Beach : 49ers’ Pace Stampedes Lady Buffaloes, 103-64

The game plan was familiar for the Cal State Long Beach women: Get off to a quick start, force a fast tempo and take good shots.

The 49ers followed the plan as they have most of the season, and the result was a 103-64 victory over Colorado Saturday night in a second-round game of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. tournament.

Just 45 seconds after the opening tipoff, the 49ers led, 6-0, and the 1,185 fans in the university gym settled in for an entertaining evening.

Before six minutes had gone by, Long Beach (26-5) led, 18-7, and guard Penny Toler was already in double figures for the 54th straight game.

Toler scored 18 of her 24 points in the first half, after which the 49ers led, 53-23.

During one stretch late in the half, the 49ers scored 13 straight points to advance a 34-19 lead to 47-19. They made 62% of their shots in the first 20 minutes.

“I thought the first half was probably the best half we played all year,” Coach Joan Bonvicini said.

The 49ers, who won their 18th straight game, played a pretty good second half, too, as they moved into the semifinals of the West Regional. They will play host to Washington Thursday at 6 p.m.

Bonvicini likes the way her team is shaping up in its push for a first national title.

“Early in the season Penny was dominating the scoring, and now it’s everyone,” Bonvicini said. “If we continue to do that, we’ll be hard to stop.”

Joining Toler in double figures were Angelique Lee with 16 points, Dana Wilkerson with 13 and Shannon Smith and Lisa Reslock with 10 each.

The 49er defense also pleased Bonvicini.

“We had a hand up every time,” she said.

Lee and Smith each blocked five shots. Fourteen steals and a pressure defense that forced most of Colorado’s 27 turnovers also contributed heavily to the Lady Buffaloes’ demise.

Colorado Coach Ceal cq Barry, though, hardly seemed demoralized afterward. She blamed lack of tournament experience.

“It was very obvious that Long Beach has eight years of playoff experience and we’re in our first year in the tournament,” Barry said. “We just didn’t have the same poise.”

One of the baskets in the 49ers’ opening 6-0 blitz came after a Colorado player was called for a violation for stepping over the line while inbounding the ball.

“We needed not to get in a hole, especially on their home court,” said Bridget Turner, who led the Buffaloes (21-11) with 19 points.

Barry insisted that despite the 39-point defeat, Colorado’s worst of the season, her young team is not that overmatched against Long Beach.

“I didn’t think they were any better than what we expected,” said Barry, who thought she would have been better off not making the adjustments she did to contend with the 49er press. “I think we would beat them if we played our best game. We could handle their pressure, but it would take a great job on the inside game and on the boards.”

The 49ers out-rebounded the Buffs, 44-28.

Toler’s flashy style in the first half was matched by Wilkerson in the second half.

Wilkerson, who was 6 for 6 from the field, did a little bit of everything, including making a perfect halfcourt, one-handed bounce pass to Tammy Joy for a layup (one of her 6 assists) and making a circus bank shot on a drive to the basket.