LONG BEACH, Calif. – A fourth quarter rally lifted the Pacific women's basketball program over Long Beach State 90-86 at the Beach Classic on Saturday at the Walter Pyramid.
It marked the second-straight victory and seventh of the season for the Tigers (7-4), which outscored LBSU (4-4) 27-17 in the fourth quarter.
"I'm really proud of us," said head coach
Bradley Davis. "Just to show the toughness that we did through foul trouble, things not going our way through our own mistakes. We found some toughness and we were able to pull it out in the second half."
Junior
Elizabeth Elliott led the way with a career-high 25 points and shot 11-of-15 from the field. Graduate student
Cecilia Holmberg posted a career-high 18 points while senior
Liz Smith finished with 16. Junior
Anaya James had 13 points and a game-high five assists. She and Holmberg also combined for a team-leading 14 rebounds.
Pacific was down 47-39 at halftime. The Beach built on their lead at the start of the third quarter with eight unanswered points that put them up by 16, 55-39.
Smith scored a layup at the 8:06 mark that ignited an 8-0 run, cutting Long Beach State's deficit to eight, 55-47.
The Beach drained back-to-back threes to climb back up to double digits, but Holmberg and James combined for the next 10 points that brought the Tigers close within five at 1:43 in the third, 63-58.
Despite Long Beach notching two more threes in the final minute, two-straight buckets from Elliott and a free-throw by Smith made it a 69-63 game, still in favor of the home team, at the end of the third.
At the start of the fourth quarter, a layup and free-throw from Elliott and a fastbreak layup from graduate student
Madelene Ennis brought the Tigers within three. James posted back-to-back buckets in the paint and Pacific had the 72-71 lead with 7:31 left.
Long Beach State responded with two buckets to go back up, 75-72. Smith hit two free throws at the 5:26 mark that sparked a 6-0 run and the Tigers had a 78-75 advantage.
As the Beach tied the game twice in two possessions, Holmberg scored two consecutive layups in the paint for an 82-80 edge.
In the final two minutes, Pacific put the icing on the cake with two more layups from Elliott and a combined 4-of-4 at the free-throw line by Smith and Holmberg.
Pacific was 35-of-70 (.500) overall and 17-of-22 (.773) at the charity stripe.
The Tigers had a 60-42 advantage in the paint. Pacific notched 26 points off 22 turnovers and 18 second chance points off 16 offensive rebounds. The Tigers scored 16 points off 13 turnovers and 12 points off eight offensive rebounds in the second half.
Up next, Pacific hosts Cal Maritime for Education Day at 11 a.m. on Wednesday at the Spanos Center.
NOTES
- Pacific picks up its first victory over Long Beach State since 2013. The Tigers have now won 25 games against the Beach in the all-time series.
- With the win, Pacific is now 4-1 against Big West teams this season. The Tigers are 14-11 against the opponents in the league under Davis.
- Pacific reached the 90-point mark for the first time this season. The last time the Tigers beat a team by that margin was against the Academy of Art (90-26) on Nov. 22, 2022. Pacific is now 7-0 when hurdling over the 70+ point mark this season.
- This is the second time this year that Pacific has shot at .500. The Tigers were at that percentage in their home opener against Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 10.
- Elliott recorded her second 20+ point of the season and third of her career. She tallied 24 points at Arizona State in the Briann January Classic on Dec. 1.
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