Amundsen's 32 Leads CSUN Past Long Beach State in Overtime

LONG BEACH, Calif.—Tess Amundsen's season-high 32-point effort led CSUN to a 62-57 overtime victory over Long Beach State Thursday night in Big West Conference Women's Basketball play at the Walter Pyramid.

FIRST HALF
Amundsen scored the first five points for the Matadors to begin the game. CSUN went cold as The Beach kept the Matadors off the scoreboard for the next 4+ minutes before Jordyn Jackson hit a runner to push CSUN back in front 7-6. Jasmine Hardy's three-pointer with 1:50 remaining was the final points of the quarter as Long Beach State led 9-7 after 10 minutes.

Maddi Utti's short jump pushed the Long Beach State lead to 11-7 24 seconds into the second. After a pair of Sydney Woodley free throws, Amundsen returned the advantage to CSUN at 12-11 with her second three-pointer resulting in a Beach timeout. Long Beach scored seven consecutive points to go up by six.

The Matadors called timeout and recorded five of the next seven points to cut it 20-17. After going down 23-17 on a Kristyna Jeskeova three-pointer, Amundsen scored four in a row to reduce the lead to two. The Matadors kept The Beach from scoring for the final five minutes of the first half as CSUN trailed 23-21 at the break.

SECOND HALF
Amundsen tied the score to begin the third, Emily Sullivan broke the Beach drought with a jumper. Jackson responded with a three-pointer on the next Matador possession for the lead. Jackson scored again to extend the advantage to 28-25. Two Justina King free throws reduced it to a one-point lead. Hardy's three-pointer stretched it to 30-27 in favor of The Beach. Amundsen went to the basket and her layup tied the score at 4:45. She was fouled on the play.

After the media timeout, Amundsen completed the three-point play for a 31-30 CSUN advantage. Ma'Qhi Barry was fouled on a three-point attempt. She was good on 2-of-3 attempts to again put Long Beach State into the lead. Michelle Duchemin's free throws created a 33-32 score in favor of the Matadors. Maddie Utti's layup was followed by Amundsen's free throws as the lead traded once again. Utti's layup pushed it to 36-35 for The Beach. Amundsen sank a three for a 38-36 Matador advantage.

Kianna Hamilton-Fisher's free throws with 1:39 remaining tied the score. Amundsen's third three-pointer of the third quarter put CSUN up 41-38 with one minute to play. Amundsen sank her fourth three-pointer with nine seconds remaining before Hardy's three-pointer at the buzzer created a 44-41 game as the teams headed into the fourth.

Meghann Henderson's three-pointer to open the fourth quarter made it 47-41. Utti responded with a jumper. Barry made 1-of-2 free throws at 7:36 for a 47-44 score. Jackson was fouled during a three-point attempt at the 6:44 mark. She missed two of the three chances. King responded with 1-of-2 free throws to keep it a one-possession game. The Matadors turned the ball over on a 30-second shot clock violation the next time down. Berry again went to the free throw where she sank both attempts as CSUN kept a one-point advantage. Kayanna Spriggs could only increase the Matadors' lead with 1-of-2 free throws out of the media timeout midway through the period.

The teams exchanged misses before Utti tied the score with 3:52 remaining. At 1:58, Amundsen was fouled. She connected on both attempts to put CSUN up 50-48. Utti missed a layup at 1:39. The resulting held ball was in favor of The Beach as Long Beach State called timeout. The set play resulted in a Utti layup and tied the score.

With two seconds on the shot clock, Spriggs was fouled. She missed both free throw attempts. Utti grabbed the rebound with one minute remaining. Hamilton-Fisher missed a three-pointer as the shot clock expired. The Matadors called timeout with 32.9 seconds remaining to advance the ball.

CSUN ran the time down to 9.5 seconds before calling their final timeout with seven seconds on the shot clock. Berry stole the ball from Jackson three seconds later and called timeout. King's jumper as time ran out went in and out of the rim, sending the game to overtime tied at 51.

OVERTIME
Both teams failed to convert each of their first three possessions of the extra frame. Long Beach State turned the ball over on their fourth time down. Henderson gave the lead to CSUN with a three-pointer at the two-minute mark. Spriggs fouled Utti 14 seconds later. She missed the first attempt but made the second. At 1:33, Utti fouled Amundsen who made both attempts for a 56-52 score. Utti turned the ball over on the ensuing Beach possession.

Spriggs' layup made it 58-52. Long Beach State turned over again, but CSUN failed to capitalize. King scored off a short jumper in the paint at 31.8 seconds. The Matadors called time out to advance the ball, leading by four. Two seconds came off the clock before a jump ball that was in favor of The Beach. King missed a layup. Jackson ended up with the ball and was fouled with 15.8 seconds left. She sank both.

Long Beach State called timeout trailing 60-54. Jasmine Hardy made a long three out of the time out that cut the lead in half. After a video review, it was determined that CSUN maintained the ball over with 12.4 seconds remaining. Jackson took the inbounds pass from Amundsen and dribbled nearly two seconds off the clock before being fouled. Jackson connected on both free throws to increase the score to the final 62-57.

ACCORDING TO INTERIM HEAD COACH CARLENE MITCHELL
"Tess always has a quiet stat line to me, but she carried us tonight on the offensive end. When we needed a big shot, she was the one who had the ball in her hands. She also played well on the defensive end of the floor tonight."

"Long Beach State is a potent offensive team that will spread you out. They have three or four go-to-players that can score. We tried to mix our defenses up which would not allow them to get in a rhythm that would prevent them from getting some mismatches against us. We have to give the credit to our players who late in the game battled and found a way to win."

THE NUMBERS
Amundsen scored 12 of the 21 first half points for the Matadors. She had 28 of the 44 CSUN points through three quarters. Amundsen scored only four points in the fourth quarter and overtime as Long Beach State double-teamed her throughout the final period. She was 10-of-14 from the floor, 5-of-7 from three-point range, and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Her 32-point effort was the most points scored in a game by a CSUN player since Channon Fluker posted 34 against Hawai'i on Jan. 25, 2018. Jackson scored 12 as the only other Matador in double figures.

Hardy scored 11 of the 23 first half points for Long Beach State. Hardy had 17 of the 41 points through three for Long Beach State. She only scored three in the fourth quarter and overtime.

The Matadors CSUN went 17-of-22 from the free throw line (77.3%) while Long Beach State was 13-of-18 (72.2%) From the charity stripe. The Matadors shot 18-of-48 from the field (45%) while The Beach was 41.3% (19-of-46) from the floor. Long Beach State outrebounded CSUN 27-25. Both teams turned the ball over 24 times with the Matadors making 17 steals.

UP NEXT
CSUN (9-13, 5-7 Big West) travels to Cal State Fullerton (9-13, 4-8 Big West) Saturday night. Coverage on ESPN+ begins at 6 p.m.

NOTES
Long Beach State is 16-5 overall, 9-4 in the Big West…Thursday marked the 65th game in the all-time series between CSUN and Long Beach State…The Beach leads the series 43-22 as CSUN swept the season series from The Beach this season...this was the third overtime game of the year for CSUN, the most for CSUN in season since 2011-12 (3)…the Matadors are 2-1 in the overtime games.

Players Mentioned

Tess Amundsen

Michelle Duchemin

Meghann Henderson

Jordyn Jackson

Kayanna Spriggs

Sydney Woodley