The Long Beach State women’s basketball team was off to its best start since 1988-89, but UC Davis proved that the Big West is still the Aggies’ domain. Long Beach showed signs of life but Davis dominated three quarters of the game in a 67-50 victory.
“Now you know what it’s like to play for a championship, you know what it’s like to put yourself in that position,” Long Beach State coach Jeff Cammon said he told his team.
The series sweep by the Aggies puts them in firm control of first place, with a 6-0 record, while Long Beach State drops to 10-2.
“Davis is a program that’s been doing it for a long time, but it took them a while to get there to that level too,” said Cammon. “We’re learning.”
Davis did a great job of exposing the flaws in Long Beach State’s offense, using length to affect shots inside (the Beach missed seven layups in the first half) and keeping them out of rhythm on the perimeter. Long Beach shot just 4/21 from beyond the arc in another bad shooting night.
“We got better looks tonight, but when you’re shooting 12-15% you’re going to have to play nearly perfect defense to win those games,” said Cammon. “Defensively, we held them to their average. In order to beat that team you have to score and we didn’t.”
UC Davis went 10/22 from beyond the arc and led wire to wire. After taking a 29-11 lead in the second quarter, a 10-0 run from the Beach brought them back into it and they trailed by just eight shortly before halftime. But Davis came out blazing on offense and won the third quarter 24-12 to take control.
The Aggies were led by Cierra Hall’s 20 points while the Beach was led by 13 points from Jasmine Hardy. Long Beach State will travel to Cal Poly next weekend to try and bounce back.
