The562’s coverage of Long Beach State athletics for the 2025-26 season is sponsored by Marilyn Bohl.
Long Beach State’s growing pains are starting to hurt a little more each game.
Through four games this season it’s been the same issues for Beach, with small mistakes plaguing a young and inexperienced group. There were no exceptions on Thursday night in the Gold Mine, as they continued to show growth in a falling-short effort during a 68–55 loss to visiting San Francisco.
“I see the growth,” said LBSU coach Amy Wright. “Yes, I want to win—we all want to win. It’s not like we’re getting a first-round draft pick next year [for losing games]—we’re not the Lakers. So we’re growing, and our focus is to show the growth and fix the little mistakes. Tonight it was on us, it wasn’t San Francisco.”
The Beach had another quality night from sophomore JaQuoia Jones-Brown, who finished with 20 points, accounting for more than one-third of the Beach’s total. The 5-foot-6 guard also had 12 rebounds to record her second double-double of the season.
When asked about the lack of scoring around Jones-Brown, Wright simply said, “Yeah, they’ve gotta make shots too. They’ve gotta make shots too.”
San Francisco found most of its success underneath the rim, doing a good job boxing out Beach defenders while picking on favorable matchups. The Dons used those advantages to outscore the Beach 40-18 in the paint, and despite only outrebounding Long Beach 37–33, they led the Beach 17–6 in second-chance scoring opportunities.
“That was their game plan,” Wright said. “They were peeling it back out and trying to pound it down low. We were trying to have a little bit better ball pressure and get in front, which we did for the first three minutes of every quarter, then we get to the last seven and it’s up and down. We just have to focus on staying consistent and following the game plan, because the game plan worked when we executed it.”
What was just a one-point deficit after the first quarter turned into an 11-point hole before the break after the Beach was outscored 24–14 in the second period. The Dons grew their lead as big as 14 points, but a Jones-Brown three before the halftime buzzer helped cut it to a more manageable deficit going into the break.
LBSU showed most of its growth in the third quarter, opening the period on an 11–2 run while starting 4-for-5 from the field. The Beach cut the lead to as little as two points in the quarter but trailed by a half-dozen to end the third, and Wright said it was her defensive adjustments at halftime that helped provide the spark.
“We talked a lot about what was happening on defense and our offense is just free falling,” she said. “They were free flowing, moving the basketball, bodies were moving and they were moving the basketball. Then like I said, it was those first three minutes where we were doing what we were supposed to be doing and then we just started standing.”
Part of the early second-half spark came from freshman Brynna Pukis, who contributed to the Beach’s run with a three pointer in either half. Pukis finished the night with a career-high 14 points while shooting a team-high 50% from the field.
“That’s what she’s supposed to be doing,” Wright said of Pukis. “She’s just had a rough start and a typical freshman start. You’re a little shell-shocked, the game’s a bit fast and more physical, and she’s up to the challenge, but we need her to hit those threes. Actually, I need her to hit two more because those are momentum swingers that she missed.”
The Beach lost all its momentum in the fourth quarter, going just 1-for-9 from the field (11%) while being outscored 14-6. Wright attributed the sluggish end to her team’s tiredness and fatigue, as the Dons were able to dibble out the clock to hand Long Beach its fifth straight loss to open the season.
LBSU will again look for its first win of the season on the road next when they visit Oregon State on Sunday.
