Long Beach State women hand No. 21 South Florida 1st loss (Dec 19, 2016)
LAS VEGAS (AP) Madison Montgomery scored 19 points and Long Beach State handed No. 21 South Florida its first loss of the season, 73-68, on Monday in the Play4Kay Shootout.
Montgomery hit 1 of 2 free throws with 32 seconds left and Gigi Hascheff put in the miss for a 70-65 lead.
USF's leading scorer, Kitija Laksa, scored her first points of the fourth quarter with 16 seconds left when she hit a 3 to pull to 70-68. Jewelyn Sawyer made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Beach a three-point lead and Laia Flores missed a 3 on the other end.
Hascheff and Raven Benton each scored 15 points for Long Beach State (8-4), which won its fifth straight.
Laksa led South Florida (8-1) with 18 points. Maria Jespersen had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Flores added 17 points.
South Florida moved up one spot in the AP poll earlier Monday after setting a program record with 129 points against St. Francis last Wednesday.
