Long Beach, Calif. – Long Beach State jumped out early and never relinquished the lead as the Forty-Niners defeated UC Irvine, 63-51 at the Walter Pyramid Saturday.

Long Beach State (7-8, 2-0) scored the first seven points of the game and extended the advantage to 12 twice, the last time 28-16 at 4:00. UCI (4-10, 0-2) had a three-pointer by Kelly Meggs followed by jumpers by Kassandra McCalister and Jacquelyn Marshall to narrow the lead to 30-23 with 1:00 minute left on the clock. A pair of free throws by Tipesa Moorer gave Long Beach the 33-23 advantage at halftime. UCI could only get as close as eight the rest of the game.

Senior guard Kassandra McCalister lead UCI with 12 points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward Jasmine Bernard came off the bench to add 11 points, four rebounds and two steals. Junior forward Jazmyne White posted nine points, while freshman Methlyn Onogomuho had seven points and six rebounds. Junior guard Anete Klintsone recorded five points and five rebounds.

The Forty-Niners had a trio of players in double-digit scoring led by Alex Sanchez with 18 points on 8-10 shooting from the field. Tipesa Moorer totaled 12 points and Mary Ochiltree had 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

LBSU shot 43.6 percent (24-55) from the floor, while UCI was 36.2 percent (21-58).

With the win, LBSU earns two points in the Black & Blue Rivalry presented by Duke's of Huntington Beach.  The Forty-Niners lead 13-4.

UCI returns home to host Pacific on Thursday (Jan. 5) for a 7:00 p.m. game in the Bren Center.

______________________________________________________________________

For UC Irvine Athletics ticket information, please call (949) 824-5000 or e-mail athletics.tickets@uci.edu.  For more information click here.

For information on how you can help support UC Irvine Athletics, please call (949) 824-6933 or e-mail aaf@uci.edu.  For additional information, click here.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.