The PMAC was quiet and nearly empty Saturday as the LSU women’s basketball team and football team kicked off their respective games 30 minutes apart. But Long Beach State University was honored to be in Baton Rouge.
“It’s an honor to bring our Long Beach State women’s basketball team to the Maravich Center,” said LBSU coach Jody Wynn. “For us to bring our Beach program to SEC country and see the history on the walls has been an honor to compete on the court here.”
The Lady Tigers (3-1, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated Long Beach State, 59-53 — ending the 49ers’ best start to a season since they went 7-0 in 1985-86.
Junior guard Rina Hill and sophomore guard Jenna Deemer facilitated the Lady Tiger offense amid the absence of junior guard Raigyne Moncrief, who is likely to be sidelined for the rest of the season with a left knee injury that will require surgery.
“We all had to step up and be there for our teammate,” said senior forward Akilah Bethel, who finished with eight points, nine rebounds and three assists.
LSU coach Nikki Fargas said Moncrief will undergo surgery. Fargas said Moncrief tried to play through the injury early but surgery became inevitable. Moncrief will be eligible for a medical redshirt, Fargas said.
Without Moncrief, LSU will look to Hill and Deemer to be mainstays at point guard, Fargas said.
“Eventually, we’re going to have to go in and have surgery,” Fargas said. “We’re going to miss not having Moncrief on the floor. We’re definitely going to need everybody to step up. We’re going to expect more from our team without the play of Raigyne Moncrief.”
A variety of players stepped in Moncrief’s absence on Saturday, and Fargas was pleased with their respective performances.
“Jenna Deemer really stepped up,” Fargas said. “When we moved her to the point she really slowed the game down for us. [Senior forward] Ann Jones was huge. She was a go-to force for us to go inside tonight.”
Deemer finished with five points and four rebounds in the first half, but she finished the game with 17 points, six rebounds and one assist, leading LSU to a positive shooting day at 47 percent from the field on 23-of-49 attempts. Jones trailed Deemer, finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds of her own.
Deemer, LSU’s three-point specialist, was 3-for-8 from behind the arc. She and senior forward Anne Pedersen were the only Lady Tigers to attempt a three. Pedersen finished with seven points, three rebounds and two assists.
The Lady Tigers had a one point lead at halftime, 24-23, due to Long Beach St. (3-1, 0-0 Big West Conference) offensive having its own problems, shooting 29 percent in the first 20 minutes.
LSU continued to struggled maintaining possession of the ball. The Lady Tigers committed 26 turnovers, leading to 23 LBSU points off turnovers.
“We made some forced errors,” Fargas said. “We’ve got to cut down those turnovers. It made our offense choppy. We cannot give away 26 possessions.”
Wynn said LBSU’s game plan was to spread the “bigger and faster” LSU team with three-point looks, giving LBSU more driving lanes, but the plan wasn’t executed due to the high number of missed shots.
Junior guard Raven Benton and sophomore guard Cece Wilson led the 49ers with 30 points and 11 rebounds combined.
The duo powered LBSU offensively but couldn’t help the 49ers from behind the three-point line.
LBSU, a 42 percent three-point shooting team on the season, converted 5 percent — 1-for-21 — of its deep-balls on Saturday, a season low.
“From start to finish, this was one of our better games,” Fargas said. “We controlled the tempo of the game. We obviously knew what they were capable of. We knew they could shoot the three.”
The Lady Tigers will have only one day before their next game on Monday against Tulane in Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans.