LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Long Beach State responded strongly after the Northern Arizona women's basketball team cut its deficit to one, and the Lumberjacks were unable to recover in a 69-48 loss in the first of two games at the New Mexico State Hotel Encanto Thanksgiving Classic. NAU fell to 1-3 this season with the defeat on Friday.

"Long Beach State is a quality team and I just did not our energy and effort tonight," said head coach Sue Darling. "They forced us into 27 turnovers. We came out and did a decent job playing hard and together, and then they went on a couple of runs. We didn't go back at them and it was not the Lumberjack basketball we saw in the first three games."

Junior Rene Coggins was the lone Lumberjack in double-figures, scoring 10 points with eight coming in the first half. Her second three-pointer of the game with 5:59 left in the first half brought NAU within 19-18 on the scoreboard, but the 49ers finished the half on a 16-6 run and never looked back.

Long Beach State opened the game with the first nine points until junior Brittani Lusain's offensive put back gave NAU its first points at the 6:58 mark in the first quarter. That sparked a 7-0 Lumberjack run, coupled with a three by Coggins and a jumper by senior Monique Mulder in the next two minutes. However, Long Beach State finished the latter half of the opening period on an 8-2 run to hold a 17-9 lead after the first 10 minutes.

NAU hung tough with Long Beach State, a WNIT team from a season ago, and trailed by just one following Coggins' triple off an assist from Mulder. A free throw by senior Mariah Willadsen with 3:14 left in the first half, kept NAU within 24-21, but the 49ers finished the second quarter in similar fashion to the first.

Ahead 35-24 at the half, Long Beach State opened the third quarter with 17 of the first 23 points as NAU struggled in the third quarter. The 49ers wound up outscoring the 'Jacks by 10 in the third and led by as much as 29 in the fourth quarter in pulling away for the win.

NAU shot just 33.3 percent for the game and were hampered at the free throw line, converting on just 8-of-18 attempts from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, Long Beach State shot 42.4 percent for the game offensively.

While the Lumberjacks outrebounded the 49ers by 10, 43-33, in large part to strong efforts by Lusain and freshman Kaleigh Paplow who each tallied seven boards, NAU committed 27 turnovers in the contest. Long Beach State was able to convert that into 22 points, who came into the game forcing over 20 turnovers per game.

Behind Coggins' 10 points, Lusain finished with nine points, seven rebounds and three assists. Aside from Paplow's season-best seven rebounds, fellow freshman Passionate Amukamara registered a season-high six points in the pair's best performances of their young careers. Redshirt junior Shay Young (six points, five rebounds) and junior Taylor Leyva (five points, five rebounds) also contributed off the bench for NAU.

The 'Jacks look to rebound against the host New Mexico State on Saturday at 7 p.m. The Aggies improved to a perfect 5-0 this season by defeating Northwestern State, 65-54, Friday morning.