Long Beach Women Almost Let a Win Get Away

After the Cal State Long Beach women’s basketball team opened the season by losing two games, its worst start in 10 years, Coach Joan Bonvicini said, “I feel sorry for the next team we play.”

The implication was that the 49ers, once ranked No. 2 but now ranked No. 9, would take out their frustration on their opponent, rediscover their confidence and redeem themselves--if not in the polls, then at least in their own minds.

Long Beach did beat its next opponent, Nebraska, Friday night in the Dial tournament at the University Gym, but the 49ers are mainly feeling sorry for themselves. Their 84-78 win before 1,246 fans was not the confidence-booster they had sought.

“We are not a real good team right now,” Bonvicini said.

The 49ers certainly are not what they could be. After holding a 17-point lead in the first half, they allowed the Cornhuskers (4-2) to barrel back in the second half. Nebraska nearly won the game.

“We consider it a moral victory,” Nebraska Coach Angela Beck said. “I was really proud of our team for adjusting and hanging in there.”

Long Beach will play Grambling in the championship game at 7:30 tonight. The Tigers (3-2) beat New Mexico State, 73-72, in the tournament’s first game. Tarcha Hollis, a 6-foot 4-inch sophomore center, led Grambling with 22 points and 11 rebounds. New Mexico State (3-3) and Nebraska will play in the consolation game at 5:30.

The Nebraska-Long Beach game could have been a matchup between two running teams, but the Cornhuskers decided to play a more deliberate style to slow the 49ers. It worked.

Long Beach held a 70-58 lead with 5:58 to play but allowed Nebraska to bomb a pair of 3-pointers and pull within 71-70. The game stayed close the rest of the way. Amy Bullock sank 2 free throws to bring the Cornhuskers within 1 point again, 75-74, at 1:20.

The 49ers were up by 4 points when Cheryl Dowell, a senior forward who had started the first two games but not Friday’s, applied the clincher. Dowell, who had made only 1 free throw up to that point, sank 2 with 25 seconds left to give Long Beach an 82-76 lead.

“Down the stretch, they pounded it to her,” Beck said of Dowell. “She won it for them.”

Nebraska grew increasingly frustrated with Long Beach’s pressure defense, which allowed few shots from the perimeter and fewer inside, and the Cornhuskers began to look to Amy Stephens from 3-point range. She responded with 5 of the 3-pointers, and Sabrina Brooks had 4.

As always, the 49ers were aided by a raucous crowd. Beck, as animated and demonstrative as any coach in women’s basketball, was taunted endlessly. Her frequent protests regarding the officiating landed her two technical fouls, much to the delight of the crowd.

The 49ers did have that 17-point lead in the first half, but it didn’t last.

Long Beach held a 5-point lead on Tracy Waites’ 3-point basket at 16:19. But Nebraska whittled that down until, at 12:16, the Cornhuskers took a 1-point lead, 12-11.

But for every brief run Nebraska took, Long Beach countered with more. The 49ers denied the Cornhuskers a single point from 8:00 until 2:24 before halftime.

Long Beach finally got the balanced scoring Bonvicini had wanted. Penny Toler, who shot poorly, still had 19 points. Dana Wilkerson came off the bench to score 15 points, and Waites and Shameil Coleman each had 14.

Stephens led all scorers with 27 points.