Feb. 9, 2008

Box Score

Long Beach, Calif. - For the second time in the season the Pacific women's basketball team fell at the hands of Long Beach State, this time dropping a 69-57 contest to the 49ers at the Pyramid on Saturday, Feb. 9. The loss dropped the Tigers to 9-14 on the year and 4-6 in conference action while the 49ers improved to 5-26 overall and 3-7 in the Big West.

For the first time this season the Tigers' offense could not find its way as the Big West's top scoring offense was held to just 28.8% (19-of-66) shooting on the day. Just one Tigers managed to reach double-digits in scoring as sophomore Emma Head (San Deigo, Calif.) posted 10 points in the contest on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor. To go with her 10 points, Head grabbed nine rebounds, just two shy of her career-high of 11 set earlier this season.

Despite Pacific's shooting woes, the Tigers trailed by just five points at the halftime break. Typically a better second half team throughout the season, the Tigers were unable to find their rhythm in the second half of play as the 49ers were able to push their lead to as much as 15 points in the half before finally settling on the 12 point win. The 49ers were able to pull away from the Tigers behind the hot hand of Karina Figueroa who scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the final 20 minutes of action.

The Tigers showed all the telltale signs of potential victory throughout the contest as they posted a season-low 14 turnovers in the contest while forcing 20 Long Beach turnovers. In addition, the Tigers grabbed 41 rebounds including 18 offensive boards. In addition, Pacific continued to shoot well from the free-throw line, hitting 14-of-19 attempts in the loss.

In addition to Figueroa, the 49ers got 13 points out of Valeriya Musina, who posted 13 points while hitting 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. For the game, Long Beach State shot 39.7% from the floor hitting 23-of-58 shots.

If the standings remain where they currently are in the Big West come the end of the season, the Tigers and the 49ers will meet for a third time as they will play in the first round of the conference tournament.

Pacific will again be in action on Thursday, Feb. 14 as they host Cal State Fullerton at 7:00 pm at the Spanos Center.