A huge game for both teams Saturday afternoon at Walter Pyramid. The winner will have the early pole position in the race for the BW regular season championship and the automatic bid to the WNIT that comes with that. UCD and LBSU are a close 1-2 in offensive output (4.0 ppg difference), while the Aggies have a significant edge in scoring defense, giving up 54.6 ppg to the Beach’s 69.2 ppg. Davis leads in almost all shooting categories, both offensively and defensively, but Long Beach the advantage in steals, forcing turnovers, and particularly on the offensive glass, leading to an additional 8 more possessions per game than Davis earns in these categories. With a Thursday bye, LBSU is well-rested and has had a week to prepare for the Aggies.
Savannah Tucker (14.8 ppg), and Jada Crenshaw (11.3 ppg) lead the Beach in scoring. Seven players grab 5 or more rebounds per game, lead by Rachel Loobie at 7.1 rpg..
I like the Aggies defensive intensity and they'll need to really be locked in against the Beach. The Ags do have a tendency to make too many TO's so they'll need to play smart and not get sloppy with the ball too. Go Ags!
We watched the Riverside - Hawai'i game and discovered that Daejah Phillips is no longer on the roster for "personal reasons" with no return date given. Hawai'i looked pretty darn good against UCR.
I haven't watched Long Beach this year. I hope the Ags bring their A game!
Hawaii is consistently pretty good, especially at home. Laura Beeman does an excellent job recruiting and coaching. It speaks well of Long Beach that they beat Hawaii at Hawaii to open the season. Hawaii also lost by 10 at UCSB, while the Aggies beat the Gauchos handily in the Thunderdome. UCI has been dominant, but got behind big at Riverside, and couldn't catch up. UCD has been just overpowering opponents.
Looks like the BW has several teams capable of beating anyone else in the conference. As the stronger teams start to play each other more, it's going to be really interesting
Recently the Aggies have avoided the "why on earth did she throw THAT pass" type of turnover. Early in the year those turnovers killed us against SDSU and Portland State. Now, most turnovers are coming when someone tries forces the pass into an impossible window on back cuts. Still not good, but not as egregious as the other type.