Jasmine Williams scored 18 points and Shakeena Benton scored 17 to lead #6 Long Beach to a 71-57 win over #5 Pasadena in a South Coast Conference battle of teams both rated among the top teams in California.
Long Beach, rated 10th in the state, went on a 19-2 run to take a 56-37 lead with exactly 10 minutes to go in the second half, and led by double digits the rest of the way over visiting Pasadena, which is ranked #8 in California in this week's poll.
Long Beach (9-1, 2-0) took a 21-14 lead on a driving lay-up by Talia Rayford with 5:48 left in the first half. Pasadena (8-2, 0-1) rallied to tie the score at 30 on a pair of free throws by Shay Jackson following a steal with 28.1 seconds left in the half, and the score was tied at 30 at halftime.
Benton hit a 3-pointer in the first minute of the second half to put Long Beach back in front. Pasadena trailed by just two points at 37-35 after a 3-pointer by Stella Ghazarian.
Then came the 19-2 run. A steal & lay-up by Benton made it 41-35. Kyrese Montgomery hit a short jumper to make it 43-35, and Kaaron King scored off a pass from Rayford to push the Long Beach lead to double digits at 45-35 just over five minutes into the second half.
The run continued with a steal by Montgomery that led to her scoring on a lay-up off a pass from Destinn Romain with 14:16 left. King scored on a hook shot to make it 49-35, completing a 12-0 spurt.
After a Pasadena basket, the Long Beach run continued, however, with a steal & lay-up by Tiffany Taylor that made it 53-37. At that point, LBCC had made 11 of its 15 field goal attempts (73%) in the second half. Rayford added three free throws from four attempts to complete the run and make it 56-37, putting Long Beach in control of the game.
Williams led all scorers with 18 pts, on 7-for-11 from the floor, while Benton had her 17 pts on 7-for-10 from the floor. Rayford just missed a double-double with 9 pts and a game-high 13 rebs. Montgomery also had 9 pts and King had 8 pts, 4 rebs, 3 blocks and 4 steals.
For Pasadena, Ghazarian had 12 pts on 4 three-pointers, and Kaitlyn Parks also scored 12 pts. Desiree Loving had 10 pts and dished out a game-high 8 asts. Jackson had 9 pts, all on free throws.
box score
Wednesday, December 19, 2012 - 7 pm
at Long Beach City College
South Coast Conference - Women
Pasadena 57:
1-Desiree Loving, PG - 2/4 fg, 6/10 ft, 4 reb, 8 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 10 pts
5-Shay Jackson, SG - 0/1 fg, 9/14 ft, 2 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
10-Sabrina Martinez, SF - 3/8 fg, 3 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 7 pts
23-Sarah Jackson, PF - 1/3 fg, 2 reb, 1 stl, 1 pf, 2 pts
40-Kaitlyn Parks, C - 6/12 fg, 3 reb, 1 blk, 12 pts
32-Stella Ghazarian, G - 4/10 fg, 4 reb, 2 ast, 1 stl, 3 pf, 12 pts
11-Briana Simmons, C - 1/2 fg, 1/3 ft, 2 reb, 3 pts
12-Angeline Jefferson, F - 0/3 fg, 0 pts
20-Kahlia Theus, G - 0 pts
33-Tyler Crockom, F - 1/4 fg, 1 stl, 3 pf, 2 pts
34-Averie-Alice Guzman, F - 0 pts
15-Brandi DuBose, F - 1 reb, 1 stl, 0 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 18/47 fg (.383), 16/27 ft (.593), 26 reb, 15 ast, 2 blk, 9 stl, 15 pf, 57 pts
3-pt fg (5): Ghazarian 4, Martinez
Turnovers (26): Shay Jackson 7, Parks 4, Crockom 4, Loving 3, Martinez 3, Sarah Jackson, Simmons, Jefferson, Theus, DuBose
Long Beach 71:
3-Shakeena Benton, SG - 7/10 fg, 1/2 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 4 pf, 17 pts
4-Jasmine Williams, SF - 7/11 fg, 4/4 ft, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 blk, 1 stl, 3 pf, 18 pts
14-Talia Rayford, PF - 2/5 fg, 5/6 ft, 13 reb, 3 ast, 1 blk, 2 stl, 3 pf, 9 pts
23-Kyrese Montgomery, PG - 3/5 fg, 3/5 ft, 3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl, 2 pf, 9 pts
44-Kaaron King, C - 4/9 fg, 4 reb, 1 ast, 3 blk, 4 stl, 4 pf, 8 pts
24-Dana Arrington, C - 0/1 fg, 1 pf, 0 pts
1-Destinn Romain, G - 1/2 ft, 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 1 pt
15-Tiffany Taylor, G - 2/5 fg, 1 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 1 pf, 4 pts
33-Regina Romain, F - 1/4 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 4 pf, 3 pts
12-Crystal Cockerhan, C - 0/3 fg, 3 reb, 1 ast, 0 pts
20-Janissa Zagal, G - 1/1 fg, 2 pts
team rebounds: 5
Totals: 27/54 fg (.500), 14/19 ft (.737), 38 reb, 18 ast, 5 blk, 13 stl, 22 pf, 71 pts
3-pt fg (3): Benton 2, R.Romain
Turnovers (24): King 8, Williams 3, Montgomery 3, Arrington 2, D.Romain 2, Taylor 2, Benton, Rayford, R.Romain, team
Halftime Score: Tied at 30
Updated Records: Long Beach (#6-South, #10-Calif) 9-1 overall, 2-0 in SCC; Pasadena (#5-South, #8-Calif) 8-2 overall, 0-1 in SCC
LBCC went on a 19-2 run to lead 56-37 midway through the 2nd half and led by double digits the rest of the way.
