Nov. 24, 2008

Box Score

Los Angeles, CA - LMU exploded offensively in the first half and held off a second half comeback attempt from Long Beach State to pull out an 83-63 victory in Gersten Pavilion on Monday night. The Lions (3-1) held a 30-6 advantage in points off turnovers to post their ninth straight victory over the 49ers (1-2).

The Lions were led by an impressive performance off the bench from freshman Alex Cowling, who recorded the first double-double of her career with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Seven of her boards came on the offensive end while she shot 9-for-12 from the floor.

"Alex is just a fun freshman," Head Coach Julie Wilhoit said. "This is how I think she can perform all the time as she gets more and more comfortable with the college game."

Cowling led three Lions in double figures. Junior Lisa Helmers and senior Cassady Moore finished with 23 and 12, respectively, while sophomore Aleyse Evans led the Lions with 13 rebounds to go along with seven points. Moore added six steals, one off her career-high.

LMU was able to win despite an impressive performance from Courtney Jacob for the 49ers. She almost singlehandedly brought Long Beach State back with six three-pointers and 30 points to go along with nine rebounds. Whitney Fields was the only other 49er in double figures, with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Ashley Bookman added 10 rebounds.

The Lions held the overall rebounding advantage 51-44, including a 28-21 advantage in the second half. Offensive rebounding was key for both sides, but LMU got the better of that battle as well with 21 rebounds to 15 for the 49ers that they converted into a 23-11 edge in second-chance points.

The first half was back-and-forth for most of the first ten minutes, as the score was 17-15 LMU with 10:48 left. Then the Lions heated up and ran away from the 49ers scoring 16 points in a row over the next 4:06 to widen their lead to 33-15.

Moore led the charge as she stole four passes in the half, including two in a row at the beginning of the 16-point run. The Lions were extremely opportunistic on defense as they had eight steals in the half to zero for the 49ers. Moore was also one of three Lions to score in double digits in the half. Moore and Cowling each had 12 and Helmers had 10 in the first 20 minutes.

The 49 points LMU scored was the most they have scored in a half this season and most since putting up 55 against Fresno State last season. While they were cold from the outside, shooting 25% (6-for-24) from three-point range, they hit 18-of-29 from inside the three-point line.

Jacob tried to keep LBSU in the game as she hit four-of-six from behind the arc to lead the 49ers with 14 points in the half.

Long Beach State made a tactical switch on defense in the second half to slowly crawl back into the game. Jacob was once again key to the 49ers' effort as she scored the first ten points of the half for Long Beach. From there, the Lions focused on Jacob and she only had six points the rest of the way.

That forced other players to step up for the 49ers, and they did as they were able to get back to within seven points at 62-55 with 7:38 remaining. The Lions buckled down from there on defense, limiting the 49ers to just eight points the rest of the way. LMU's rebounding edge in the second half was important to keeping Long Beach from getting any closer than they did, especially by keeping the 49ers off the offensive boards.

"We kept them off the glass in the second half, which was key," Wilhoit said. "Even more important was that we had 21 offensive rebounds [in the game] and connected on 10 of them."

The win gives LMU momentum heading into the LMU Ayres Hotel Thanksgiving Tournament this Friday and Saturday. The Lions look to defend their title, opening play on Friday at 2 p.m. at Gersten Pavilion against Idaho State. Georgetown and North Dakota State play in the day's second game with the Consolation and Championship Games scheduled for Saturday.

- GO LIONS -