BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - CSUB Head Coach Tim La Kose won his 300th career game Tuesday evening in the Icardo Center as the Roadrunner women's basketball team defeated its third Big West opponent, Long Beach State, 73?57. The win was La Kose's 164th at CSUB after taking over the program in 2001?02. The Roadrunners improve to 10-7 on the season including a perfect 4?0 mark against Big West Conference opponents. The loss drops Long Beach State to 3-13 with a 1-8 record on the road.
Junior Phynique Allen (San Diego/Eastern Washington) had a monster night for the ?Runners, going 6-for-8 from behind the arc to lead all scorers with 22 points. She also had a game-best four steals and dished off four assists. Junior Katie Williams (Las Vegas/Reedley College) had her third double-double of the season as she went for 11 points and a matching number of rebounds. Senior Christine Kepenekian (Burbank, Calif./Burbank HS) had 18 points in 28 minutes for the ?Runners.
CSUB shot 38.2 percent from the field and held the 49ers to 33.3 percent shooting. The ?Runner defense forced 20 turnovers with 12 steals and three blocked shots. 31 of CSUB's 73 points came off of turnovers. The Roadrunners never trailed in the contest, leading wire to wire.
The ?Runners began the game hot as Allen hit two quick three-pointers as CSUB jumped out to an early 6-0 advantage less than two minutes in. CSUB's defense forced three early turnovers as Long Beach State had to call timeout early. But the quick break didn't cool down the ?Runners as Kepenekian hit a driving layup followed by a pair of three pointers by Allen and Arase increased the CSUB advantage to 14-0. Kepenekian would add another triple, forcing Long Beach State to call another timeout, down 17-0.
The 49ers would find the scoreboard for the first time with 12:45 left to go in the half as Lauren Sims collected an offensive rebound and hit a short jumper from just outside the lane on the baseline.
After the CSUB lead grew to 20 points midway through the half, 25-6, Long Beach cut it down to 11 with just over one minute left in the first half as Courtney Jacob hit a three-pointer. Allen would respond with her fifth and sixth three pointers of the half to give CSUB a 42-27 lead at the break.
Allen had 18 points, all on threes, to lead halftime scorers.
While Long Beach played much better in the second half, the 49ers could not erase the first half deficit. LBSU went on an early run to begin the half, closing the lead down to eight points twice in the first five minutes. But CSUB was just too strong and found ways to exploit the 49er zone which was used much of the period.
Every time Long Beach scored in the second half, CSUB would seemingly come right back and answer. With three minutes remaining, the Roadrunners held the 49ers to just two points to seal its 10th victory of the season. The ?Runners are now 79?0 all-time when holding an opponent under 60 points. It was the 10th time this season Long Beach State had failed to break the 60-point plateau.
CSUB will head to Edinburgh, Texas for a pair of games this weekend. The ?Runners will face UT?Pan American on Saturday and will stay in Edinburgh on Sunday to face Houston Baptist.
LONG BEACH STATE (3-13)
Jacob 5-9 0-0 11; Williams 4-12 2-4 10; O'Brien 4-8 2-2 10; Fields 3-11 2-2 8; Lisnock 3-9 0-0 7; Timmons 2-4 0-0 4; Wade 1-6 0-0 3; Moorer 1-3 0-0 2; Sims 1-8 0-0 2; Beckner 0-1 0-0 0; Walton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-72 6-8 57.
CSU BAKERSFIELD (10-7)
Allen 7-9 2-4 22; Kepenekian 6-18 4-4 18; Williams 4-14 3-5 11; Saso 4-8 0-1 8; Arase 2-8 0-0 6; Leon 2-6 1-2 5; Carter 1-4 0-0 2; West 0-0 1-2 1; Belt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-68 11-18 73.
Long Beach State 27 30 57
CSU Bakersfield 42 31 73
3-point goals--Long Beach State 3-18 (Lisnock 1-4; Wade 1-6; Jacob 1-3; Fields 0-1; Sims 0-3; Walton 0-1), CSU Bakersfield 10-29 (Allen 6-8; Arase 2-8; Kepenekian 2-7; Leon 0-2; Williams 0-4). A-538
