Fresno State forward Amiee Book’s 3-point shooting helped the women’s basketball team advance against Colorado State, but it wasn’t enough as the ‘Dogs fell short 78-67 in the Save Mart Center Monday night.
Book finished as the second top scorer of the game, scoring 18 points for the Bulldogs. She went 4-6 in 3-point shots and 7-12 on the floor.
“My teammates put me in position to be successful, so I knocked down open shots,” Book said. “When playing with players that draw a lot of attention, obviously, it’s gonna open me up a shot, so I’ve been working on that a lot and knocked them down tonight.”
She noted that the team played well offensively but defense let the team down, with a total of 7 turnovers for the ‘Dogs against Colorado State, something the team can work on for the upcoming game.
“Amiee Book had a good game, came in and gave us some extra points,” Fresno State head coach Jamie White said.
She added how Book’s scoring did help the Bulldogs but the whole team needs to contribute more offensively. Last year the ‘Dogs were scoring at an average of 77.8 points per game, and this year the team is closer to 69.8.
“She’s a great 3-point shooter and I thought she did a good job getting to the rim tonight,” White said.
Freshman forward Tamia Stricklin also came through with the 3-point shots for the Bulldogs, shooting 9 points for the Bulldogs and going 3-6 from the 3.
“To me Strickland’s getting better as a freshman, just knocking down some 3s. And that really helps,” White said.
The first half of the game was a back-and-forth match between the Bulldogs and Rams. Going into halftime, the Bulldogs were just one-point short from the Rams with the score 32-33.
Coming into this game, Colorado had the overall record of 12-4, and with the conference season, both the Bulldogs and Rams were battling for the middle ground for standings.
White noted that Colorado’s guard McKenna Hofschild was good with the ball and had planned to stop number four, Hofschild. White said, “I didn’t think we did a great job of that. I think, you know, we mixed up our defenses.”
The third quarter changed the game for the Bulldogs as the Rams shot 29 points opposed to the 19 points by Fresno State.
“The third quarter was a rough quarter. We just feel like we had to adjust a little bit more than what we did, on the defensive end,” Book said.
White noted that the Bulldogs let their defense slide as the Rams scored 29 points. The Rams shot 11-14 of their shots on the floor, 4-4 of their 3-pointers and 6-9 of their free throws.
“I thought we struggled to score at times. I thought Colorado State did a good job defensively,” White said. “I thought the drive hurt us a little bit and then we didn’t rebound.”
“Moving forward, obviously, just keeping people in front of us,” she said.
“Defense is definitely the biggest focus for us,” Book said. “We’ve got a lot of great scores. But if we can defend and hold players and teams below their average, then we have a great chance of winning.”
The Bulldogs host Utah State for their conference game Jan. 29, 2022, at the Save Mart Center with tipoff set for 2 p.m.
