Long Beach State surges past Cal Poly with fourth-quarter comeback

For the better part of three quarters Wednesday night, the Cal Poly women’s basketball team handled everything visiting Long Beach State threw its way.

Facing arguably one of the toughest defensive teams in the Big West Conference, the Mustangs maintained their composure and appeared on their way to a wire-to-wire victory early in the fourth quarter.

But the 49ers and their opportunistic defense overcame a 10-point deficit in the final period to secure a 61-56 come-from-behind win inside Mott Athletics Center.

“That length and that speed is really, really difficult to handle,” head coach Faith Mimnaugh said. “With our smaller guards that don’t have the same speed as our opponent, it’s hard for them to get open.”

How it happened:

Cal Poly (13-14, 6-8 Big West) used a 10-0 run to build a 50-40 advantage with 8:12 remaining in the fourth quarter. The lead evaporated quickly, however, as Long Beach State (20-7, 9-4 Big West) scored seven points in the next 46 seconds to swing the momentum in its favor.

Entering Wednesday’s contest, the 49ers were averaging a conference-leading 9.8 steals per game. Using their physical style and a combination of full-court pressure and half-court zone, they forced the Mustangs into 23 turnovers and swiped 12 steals in the victory.

The 23 turnovers were an improvement for Cal Poly compared to the first meeting in Long Beach. The Mustangs turned it over 29 times that night — their second-highest total of the season — on the way to a 12-point setback. Six times this year Cal Poly has recorded more than 20 turnovers, and the team is 1-5 in those contests.

“I think their speed and their quickness, a lot of teams don’t have that,” senior point guard Lisa Marie Sanchez said. “Most of it, honestly, was just us personally just turning the ball over, making dumb decisions. But take away nothing from their defense. Their press is not something to mess with.”

Long Beach State outscored Cal Poly 21-10 during the decisive fourth quarter.

What it means:

With three games remaining in the regular season, Cal Poly is sixth in the conference standings while Long Beach State trails only unbeaten UC Riverside and second-place Hawaii.

The Mustangs are 3-3 over their last six games and have two regular season matchups remaining before the Big West Conference Tournament.

“We’ve got to learn from it, build from it,” said Sanchez, who tallied a game-high seven assists. “We’ll probably see them soon depending on how far we make it in the tournament. So we’ve just got to adjust.”

Who stood out:

Sophomore forward Dynn Leaupepe scored a game-high 18 points on 7-for-16 shooting, to go with four rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes. It was the seventh time this season, and fifth in the last eight games, that Leaupepe has led Cal Poly in scoring.

Senior guard Beth Balbeirz added 14 points and made three 3-pointers, bringing her team-leading total to 62 made 3-pointers this season. Junior forward Hannah Gilbert chipped in 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds, including six on the offensive end.

Long Beach State’s Gigi Hascheff came off the bench to score 13 points and grab six rebounds to lead the 49ers.

As a team, Long Beach State made more free throws (18) than Cal Poly attempted (11), which Mimnaugh said was a key factor in the Mustangs’ loss.

Up next:

Cal Poly is scheduled to play its final home game at 2 p.m. Saturday against rival UC Santa Barbara.

The Gauchos (10-17, 7-6 Big West) handed the Mustangs a 78-67 loss when the two teams met in the conference opener back on Jan. 7.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 10:47 PM with the headline "Long Beach State surges past Cal Poly with fourth-quarter comeback."