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With a second-round 80-66 victory over the Idaho Vandals at the Lawlor Events Center, the Fresno State women’s basketball team has solidified its spot in tomorrow’s conference championship game at 1 p.m.
Also accompanying the win is an almost guaranteed spot in the NCAA tournament, regardless of tomorrow’s outcome in head coach Adrian Wiggins’ eyes.
“With a win today I think we are (in), but they aren’t letting me pick that though,” Wiggins said. “I think we have done everything we need to do. I don’t know what else we could do besides win tomorrow.”
Hot starts in both the first and second half ignited the Bulldogs nineteenth straight win. A 10-point halftime lead quickly swelled to 20 as Bulldogs guard Jaleesa Ross and team swarmed the Vandals early and often in the final 20 minutes. The Vandals were unable to enter the second-half scoring column until the 14:56 mark, a testament to the Bulldog’s defensive prowess.
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“Definitely we focus on that, especially with a team like Idaho,” Ross said of her team’s explosive start. “They play really fast and they usually start really fast so we definitely tried to focus on that for this game.”
Ross finished with a game-high 25 points to go along with 10 rebounds. She was joined by Rosie Moult and Joh-Teena Filipe in the double-double department with junior Hayley Munro just one rebound shy of recording her own.
Fresno State finished with an impressive 46.4 shooting percentage from beyond the arc and were perfect from the line.
As a team, Fresno State’s 59 rebounds were just one shy of tying a conference tournament record, despite a relatively poor shooting night from inside the arc, missing 54 shots.
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“There was contact, it was physical and we were rolling it off the rim,” Wiggins said. “It wasn’t going in. I don’t know what we’ll try to do to remedy that but I have a lot of faith in them when they put the ball up.”
It was not all smooth sailing for Wiggins’ squad. The Vandals, lead by Yinka Olorunnife’s 23 points, did not go away easy in the third matchup between the two teams in 2010.
“From my perspective we just played a really good Idaho team,” Wiggins said. “They are very, very well coached and they just don’t quit.”
Now the ‘Dogs have the tall task of defending their third straight Western Athletic Conference Tournament Championship as they prepare to face the winner of Nevada and Louisana Tech. The Wolf Pack boast home court advantage while the Lady Techsters took the ‘Dogs to overtime before falling 81-78 on Feb. 24.
“They’re both good,” Wiggins said. “Nevada has a great crowd here right now and they’re enthused. They’re players are excited. They are playing well. La Tech is the same. They’re a tough matchup for us because they are physical.”
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