Long Beach State escapes with over Rainbow Wahine

Long Beach State’s Courtney Murphy made two free throws with 1.7 seconds left and the Big West-leading Beach pulled out a 48-47 win over the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team tonight at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

In a defensive battle throughout, UH took a 47-44 lead when Kallin Spiller scored in the post with 53.4 seconds left. After a timeout, Tori Harris scored on a drive to bring the Beach within a point. UH’s next possession resulted in a shot-clock violation and Beach took possession with 10 seconds left.

After a UH foul, LBSU inbounded with 2.1 seconds left and Murphy took a pass while cutting along the baseline and drew a hard foul on Spiller. Her first free throw rattled around the rim before falling and her second gave the Beach the lead.

UH called timeout and advanced the ball into the frontcourt. But a cross-court inbounds pass went out of bounds and Long Beach celebrated it’s 12th straight win.

UH guard Lily Wahinekapu set career highs with 21 points and five 3-pointers. Spiller finished with 13 points and the duo combined for 21 of UH’s 26 points in the second half.

Long Beach State guard Malia Bambrick led the Beach with 12 points, all coming in the first half. Long Beach forced 23 UH turnovers, including 11 steals, and scored 17 points off turnovers.

UH (11-13, 9-6 Big West) concludes its homestand at 2 p.m. on Monday against CSU Bakersfield.