COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Gower’s 23 Points Lead Long Beach Past Fullerton

Melissa Gower scored 23 points as Long Beach State rallied to beat Cal State Fullerton, 81-76, in a Big West Conference women’s basketball game Thursday at Fullerton.

Long Beach trailed, 38-31, at the half but the 49ers outscored the Titans, 50-38, in the second half. Long Beach State took advantage of Fullerton’s depleted ranks. The Titans started with eight players but two fouled out and another was sidelined because of an injury.

Marissa Frial scored 18 points and Koko Lahanas added 16 and nine rebounds for Fullerton (1-7, 0-2). Long Beach is 2-6, 1-0.

In another Big West Conference game:

UC Santa Barbara 77, UC Irvine 71--UC Santa Barbara held off a late UC Irvine rally to defeat the Anteaters in the Big West Conference women’s basketball opener for both teams.

The Anteaters were led by sophomore center Allah-mi Basheer, who scored a career-high 19 points. Junior forward Jinelle Williams, former Brea-Olinda High School player, added 17 points and 11 rebounds. Senior guard Karie Yoshioka, a graduate of El Toro High School, scored 16 points.

Senior forward Christa Gannon led the Gauchos (5-5, 2-0) with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

In nonconference women’s basketball:

Concordia 59, Evangel (Mo.) College 58--Gitte Mejer made 15 of 16 free-throw attempts and finished with 33 points for host Concordia (7-6). Concordia made 27 of 32 free-throw attempts.