LONG BEACH, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara women's basketball team dropped its fourth consecutive contest in its 61-49 defeat to Long Beach State at Walter Pyramid.

The Beach's (10-1, 9-0 Big West) Jasmine Hardy led her team with 19 points and Justina King tacked on 11 points and six assists as the hosts started off well in the first quarter and finished strong in the fourth to stave off the Gauchos (2-10, 2-6 Big West) and remain perfect in Big West play.

UCSB junior guard Taylor Mole scored the first five Gaucho points off a pair of free throws and a three-pointer, but Long Beach State had already put six on the board and followed up her triple with a 12-1 run, with the lone point also coming via Mole, to lead 18-6 after the first ten minutes.

On the other side of the break, the Gauchos chipped away at the lead in the second quarter, knocking it down to an 11-point deficit before senior point guard Danae Miller and freshman guard Alyssa Marin drilled back-to-back threes for the visitors to be down 23-18 with 3:50 to go until halftime.

Neither team was able to score over a very-hectic, error-prone next two and a half minutes until Kianna Hamilton-Fisher hit a three for Long Beach State with 1:11 to go, but Lauren Lee answered a minute later with a triple of her own to cut the Beach's lead to five once again, 26-21 at the half.

That same margin would carry over into the fourth quarter, as a productive quarter for both the Gauchos and Beach led to a stalemate in the third period. King and Hardy kicked off the fourth by hitting shots on back-to-back possessions for the Beach to go ahead 45-36. Long Beach was able to maintain that lead for a few minutes until the Gauchos again hit on back-to-back makes from outside the arc to cut the lead to three with 5:48 remaining. However, that would end up being the last bit of gas the Gaucho offense had left for the night as the attack fizzled out while Long Beach's was reignited to the tune of a 12-3 run to close out the game and secure the victory.

Junior transfer Megan Anderson logged her first minutes in a UCSB uniform in the defeat on her return from injury.

The Gauchos finish their series against the Beach tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m. The game will be streamed on BigWest.TV and live stats will be available on UCSBGauchos.com.

Follow UCSB women's basketball on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.