It wasn’t last year’s massive thrashing of 122-49, but the Fresno State women’s basketball team started this year’s season in the same routine and seemingly sound fashion that they have been used to debuting under.
The Bulldogs won their exhibition bout against cross-town opponent Fresno Pacific with a 102-57 rout on Tuesday night at the Save Mart Center.
The exhibition game marked the team’s first competitive showing under first-year Fresno State coach Raegan Pebley.
“This is a new system for them. I’m really proud of this team,” Pebley said. “Everything has been so new for them — from terms to drills, the offense, and defense. Just a lot of new things for them and they’ve handled it with a lot of maturity. We needed a chance to be able to get out there and compete against somebody else.”
The Bulldogs boast a starting lineup that returns four of five players from last season’s school-record 28-win, Western Athletic Conference championship-winning team.
Senior guard/forward Rosie Moult and junior guard Ki-Ki Moore led the Bulldogs in scoring and combined for 43 points. Four players reached double figures in scoring.
“I think early in the game they kind of let me be a shooter,” Moore said. “In the second half, they kind of tried to take the shot away and let me attack. In the second half I just took advantage of that and tried to attack.”
Behind the 3-point arc, Moult made an efficient five-of-seven shots in the basket.
Moult, whom Pebley described as “one of the best 3-point shooters in the country” on Oct. 23’s Red and White Hoops Night, sparked a 12-point scoring streak for Fresno State early in the first half.
Moult netted a three-point shot with no one in sight. Moore followed shortly after that with a three-pointer of her own.
Moore charged towards the rim for back-to-back scores following an Alex Sheedy basket to put the Bulldogs up 18-7.
Sophomore guard Raven Fox swooshed the ball in the basket as time expired to give the Bulldogs a 58-38 lead to conclude the first half.
“Early in the game, we saw an execution of a mentality that we want our team to have — and that’s aggressiveness,” Pebley said.
Guard Taylor Thompson’s eight assists led the team. On several occasions Thompson found Moult unguarded behind the arc for open shots. Fresno State shot 50 percent of its field goals and 42 percent behind the arc.
Several reserves saw plenty of playing time in the second half. Sophomore Robin Draper and freshman Toni Smith each contributed eight points apiece for the offense.
Draper shot a 3-pointer off a pass from Fox that concluded a strong debut for the Bulldogs under Pebley.
“I think it was really good just to get a game against someone that didn’t know what we were coming at and just get all of the jitters out,” Moult said.
Fresno State was voted to finish second in its first season in the Mountain West Conference in a preseason poll.
Fresno State opens the regular season on Nov. 9 in Palo Alto against Stanford, the reigning Pac-12 champion. The Bulldogs lost to the Cardinal 93-57 last season at home.
“There are two main keys that we’ve got to get better at pretty quickly, and that’s rebounding… and taking care of the ball,” Pebley said.
“Stanford wants to be aggressive too with their defense. And we’re going to need to handle some pressure a little bit better than we did today.”