CSUN OUT OF SYNC IN OPENING LOSS : L.B. STATE 65, NORTHRIDGE 56.

Byline: Michael Anastasi Daily News Sports Editor 

Twenty-seven turnovers. Lousy free-throw shooting. No movement. Too much movement. No muscle underneath. Overthrown passes. Underthrown passes. No passing at all.

Wayward dribbles off every part of the leg one owns.

In short, bad basketball. And that is the state the Cal State Northridge women find themselves in today as they look back at Tuesday's season-opener, a 65-56 loss at Long Beach State to a very unimpressive host.

As second-year CSUN coach Michael Abraham reviews the game tapes, however, what he will see is a very young group that played hard to the end despite itself. If Abraham can continue to motivate his players to do that, they should indeed improve on last year's 5-22 record.

``This was a beatable team,'' Abraham said. And he was right. Long Beach had 36 turnovers and won mostly because the Matadors fouled five players out of the game, including four starters.

CSUN sent Long Beach to the line 39 times.

``We just can't have such a huge discrepancy in free throws,'' Abraham said. ``This was very disappointing.''

Lisa Vaillancourt led the Matadors with 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Tammie Mills scored 11.

Jamilah Jones and Sarah Hagman were a combined 2 for 16 from the field with nine turnovers.

The Matadors need to solve their ball-handling and free-throw shooting soon because the level of athleticism they face quickly escalates.

They head north for the holiday weekend to play in the University of Portland tournament that features Oregon State and New Mexico State. CSUN opens at home on Tuesday against Fresno State, which easily handled Long Beach 66-51 last weekend.