Long Beach Adds Another Victory Over Aztecs to String

And the defeats go on.

The good news for the San Diego State women’s basketball team is that considering the Aztecs have now lost 48 of 49 meetings with Cal State Long Beach, it is doubtful that Saturday’s 91-80 Big West Conference defeat at Peterson Gym will be remembered as anything special in the grand scheme of a not-so-grand 40-game losing streak against the 49ers.

The 17th-ranked Aztecs (21-4, 12-4) teased the crowd of 1,068 by taking a 17-10 lead with 14:26 left in the first half. But ninth-ranked Long Beach (21-4, 14-0) then put its defense into gear and rolled past the Aztecs.

SDSU took a 24-20 lead on a three-pointer by guard Crystal Lee with 9:46 remaining in the half. That was about the last bright spot for the Aztecs.

Long Beach followed Lee’s shot with 13 consecutive points and finished a 28-4 run on a fast-break basket by guard Dana Wilkerson with 1:52 left in the half. Wilkerson scored 10 points in the run, which gave the 49ers a 48-28 lead. Long Beach scored 16 of its 28 points on fast breaks and eight more from the line.

Long Beach settled for a 50-33 halftime lead, and by that time the damage had been done.

The lightning-quick 49er defense had 11 steals in the first half and finished with 15. The Aztecs committed 16 turnovers in the first half and finished with 24.

“I think we got careless with the basketball,” said Earnest Riggins, SDSU’s coach. “(Lee) is a freshman. She got rattled. You can’t dribble out of a press, you have to pass your way out. She has to learn discipline.”

To make matters worse, the Aztecs’ Chana Perry is still suffering from an inflamed right Achilles tendon. Perry scored seven points and was held under 10 for the first time in two years at SDSU.

The game may also have been the last chance for the Aztecs to defeat Long Beach with guard Penny Toler, who transferred from SDSU to Long Beach after her freshman year. Toler went out in style, scoring 24 points.

“I figured they would try run, but I don’t mind,” Toler said. “It’s to our advantage. We usually win when people try to run with us.”