The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2022-23 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
The Long Beach State women’s basketball team survived a scare from No. 10-seed UC Riverside in the opening round of the Big West Tournament in Henderson, Nevada Wednesday evening. the Beach trailed 11 points in the fourth quarter but came back to win it 55-49 to advance to Friday’s semifinals.
The Beach (23-8) will face No. 3 Hawaii on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
Tori Harris led Long Beach State with 14 points, while Malia Bambrick and Kiana Hamilton-Fisher had 13 points each.
“After the third quarter we came in and said if we don’t pick it up we’re going to be back in Long Beach tonight,” said Harris after the game. “We did what we do, we played defense, and that’s Long Beach basketball.”
Long Beach State is coming off an interesting regular season that saw them win more games than any team in the Big West, but not claim the conference title due to the Big West’s decision to award UC Irvine two no-contest results.
The Anteaters lost to No. 9 Bakersfield in double overtime on Wednesday, as did No. 3-seed UC Davis.
