Long Beach Overcomes Its Mistakes to Win

Long Beach State, which has committed 45 turnovers in the first two days of the Big West Conference women’s basketball tournament, will need to handle the ball better today when it faces seven-time champion UC Santa Barbara in a semifinal at noon at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The 49ers, who defeated Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 58-55, on Thursday, haven’t defeated Santa Barbara in a decade, a string of 25 losses. Santa Barbara, the regular-season champion, received a bye in the first two days of the tournament. The Gauchos haven’t lost a tournament game since 1997. That’s 21 wins in a row.

All the more reason for Long Beach State (14-15, 8-10) to come up with a better all-around effort than it did Thursday against Cal Poly (14-14, 10-8), which defeated Long Beach State twice during the regular season. Although it held a 46-36 rebounding advantage, Long Beach State committed 22 turnovers and was only one of nine from three-point range.

The 49ers made 11 of 18 free throws, but Crystal McCutcheon’s two with six seconds left gave them the final three-point cushion they needed to put the game away.

“Consistency is something that has eluded us this season,” Long Beach Coach Mary Hegarty said. “But we feel if we keep fighting we will hopefully have a good outcome.”

Long Beach was also helped by the Mustangs’ 15-for-60 shooting.

Pacific 78, Cal State Fullerton 59 -- A jumper by Meghann Keathley gave Fullerton (9-20, 8-10) a 12-2 lead five minutes into the game, but Pacific (15-13, 13-5) grabbed the lead for good, 27-26, at the 6:04 mark. The Tigers, who play Idaho today at 2 p.m., closed out the half by outscoring the tired Titans, 15-4. Fullerton didn’t get closer than nine points after that.

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UC Riverside fired women’s basketball coach Jennifer Young after a second consecutive poor season. Athletic Director Stan Morrison announced that her contract would not be renewed. The Highlanders went 7-21 this season, finishing with a 71-56 loss to Cal State Fullerton in the first round.