TheBakersfieldCalifornian.com

Greg McCall is longing for the day when his Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners start hitting their shots consistently.

McCall, coach of the CSUB women's basketball team, saw his squad lose its sixth straight game and 11th in 12 games Friday night, 66-52 to UC Irvine in the Icardo Center.

CSUB fell to 2-13. One of the wins was at Irvine on Dec. 9, the only Roadrunner victory since the second game of the season.

"It's hard to explain why we can't put the ball in the basket," McCall said. "We're really struggling offensively and that's something I don't understand. We're getting the shots I want them to take."

CSUB came into the game shooting only 33 percent from the field this season and that's what the Roadrunners did against Irvine (4-8): 33 percent (21-of-63).

The Roadrunners had a below-average shooting night on 3s, only 4-of-20 (20 percent). Amber Williams, the most dangerous 3-point shooter on CSUB's team, was 0-for-10 on 3s Friday.

Missed layups have plagued the Roadrunners throughout their losing streak, McCall said, and there were bunches of them Friday night.

"We're missing a lot of layups. That's a lack of focus, a lack of concentration," McCall said. "We work on it every day in practice."

CSUB had only 12 turnovers compared to Irvine's 18.

"In women's basketball, my philosophy is if you can make layups and free throws, and play pretty good defense and create some turnovers, you can win a lot of basketball games.

"We're doing one of the three things: We turned them over 18 times.

"But when you're shooting 33 percent (total field goals) and 20 percent (3s), it's hard to overcome."

McCall said CSUB will continue to strive for improvement in the shooting department.

"We've got to come into the gym, get extra shots and extra shooting time. Those are the things we're constantly working on," he said.

"We've done two-a-day practices where we come in and do nothing but shooting -- layups, jump shots, contested shots. We're doing all kinds of thing to try and get it fixed."

Rebounding has been a constant issue. CSUB was outrebounded 47-33 by Irvine and on the season the Roadrunner opponents are plus-6.5 in per-game rebounding average.

"When you miss a lot of shots, they'll get a lot of defensive rebounds," McCall said.

Irvine had a 22-10 edge in second-chance points, which are scores following offensive rebounds.

"We've done a pretty good job on that this year," McCall said.

"Right now we're plugging away and trying to find that niche. We're right there at the doorstep. ...

"We've got a rough record. I'm just waiting on that day when we are hitting our shots."

Tyonna Outland had 14 points and Cebrina Johnson scored 12 for CSUB. Irvine's Camille Buckley had 19 points and 15 rebounds.