Matt Weir/ The Collegian
The Bulldogs fall short Saturday night as the team was unable to win the programs first NCAA Tournament game
Fresno State’s women’s basketball team’s record-breaking, dream season came to an abrupt end Saturday night as the Baylor Bears escaped with a 69-55 NCAA Tournament first-round victory.
A second-half Baylor surge, in which the Bulldogs went scoreless for nearly six minutes, proved to be the difference in Fresno State’s third straight national tournament early exit.
The ‘Dogs’ six-minute drought in the final period stretched from 17:05 to 11:11, allowing Baylor to build a double-digit lead and seal the victory inside of Haas Pavilion.
For the third straight game, Fresno State shot under 40 percent, due in large part to 6-foot-8-inch Baylor center Brittney Griner’s lengthy presence in the paint. The ‘Dogs were forced to take jump shots for most of the game, something they have struggled with as of late.
“A lot of times, when shots don’t go in you say you’re taking bad shots,” head coach Adrian Wiggins said. “I can’t say that tonight. We took shots we can make, and we didn’t make them.”
Despite Baylor’s obvious size advantage, Fresno State held its own on the glass, hauling in just one rebound fewer than the Bears in front of a raucous crowd.
“We had a great rebounding effort,” Wiggins said. “We had great fan support. It was awesome to see our crowd out there today. It just makes you feel very proud to be a part of our program right now.”
Although Fresno State held pace with Griner on the boards, the freshman All-American candidate caught fire in the second half, scoring 12 of her game-high 18 points.
Matt Weir/ The Collegian
Wiggins relied on a steady rotation of guards Joh-Teena Felipe, Taja Edwards and Hayley Munro to defend Griner under the hoop.
“We played behind her and tried to be as physical as possible and keep her out of the paint,” Munro said. “That’s where she’s most dominant.”
Jaleesa Ross, Fresno State’s leader in every major statistical category, had an uncharacteristically rough night, scoring just nine points and shooting 1-for-11 from three-point land. Ross, who will return in 2010-11 for her senior season, has now been a part of three NCAA Tournament first-round losses.
“Every year I want it more and more,” Ross said. “We just have to start training like it, starting in a couple weeks.”
Munro and backup guard Emma Andrews were the only two ‘Dogs in double figures, scoring 13 points a piece. Andrews left the game in the firshalf with an apparent knee injury, but returned to score eight points in the final 20 minutes.
Now that the most successful season in Fresno State women’s basketball history is in the books, Wiggins, Ross and the rest of the returning players look to erase the national tournament woes and come back strong in the 2010-11 campaign.
“We thought we could hang today,” Ross said. “We came in thinking we could win. But we definitely do want to work on having a better preseason, so we can get a higher seed and win a game.”