The Fresno State women’s basketball team defeated California State University, Monterey Bay 72-50 in an exhibition game to open the 2024-25 season on Friday night at the Save Mart Center. Junior forward Mia Jacobs led the way with 25 points.
Fresno State Head Coach Jaime White thought that after a slow first half, the ‘Dogs really picked it up in the second half, which got them the win.
“In the second half I thought they did really well. Saga did good defensively,” White said. “When they put their minds to the defense, the offense came along with it.”
What happened?
Fresno State pushed the pace early, as sophomore guard Taija Sta. Maria ran the offense, dishing two early assists to give the ‘Dogs a quick 4-0 lead.
The Bulldogs also gave Monterey Bay different looks defensively, starting out with a full court press one possession, and a 2-3 zone in the next. As a result, Fresno State came away with various stops on defense, which turned into scoring opportunities and led to an early 13-6 lead for Fresno State.
The Otters went on a late scoring run to bring the score to 17-12 in favor of Fresno State as the first quarter came to a close.
To start the second quarter, Sta. Maria picked up where she left off and was looking for teammates early and creating shots for herself as Fresno would go up 20-12 early in the quarter. But Monterey would battle back and go on a little run as they made it a 20-18 game, still in favor of Fresno State.
Following the run Fresno State would reply with sudden surge on offense from Jacobs as she knocked down her free throws and a three pointer, but it wasn’t enough as Monterey fired back and closed out the second quarter with mid-range jump shot to bring the score to 35-32 in favor of Fresno State.
In the third quarter, Fresno State came back with that intensity on both offense and defense, but it wasn’t enough as the Otters would knock down their shots, giving them their first lead of the game, 47-46.
Nonetheless, to close out the third quarter, Fresno State would go on a 10-0 run after sophomore forward Maria Konstantinidou cleaned the boards for putbacks and Jacobs drove to the paint for easy layups, making the score 57-48 for Fresno State.
After Fresno State closed the third quarter strong, they would ride that momentum into the fourth quarter as they continued to look aggressive on offense and defense; forcing turnovers and converting on offense, which bloomed the lead to 61-48 as Monterey called the timeout. But it didn’t help as Fresno State forced two consecutive shot clock violations.
To close out the game, Sta. Maria had back-to-back good plays as she went baseline for the reverse layup after a strong close out from an Otters defender and an easy layup on the fast break after a turnover in the last couple of minutes.
One of the many bright spots in this game was Konstantinidou as she did all the little things. White said Konstantinidou worked all summer and is looking forward to her performance this season.
“We’re really excited about Maria,” White said. “She’s been doing really good all summer and into the preseason, so we hope that we can get her in there a little bit more.”
What’s next?
Fresno State will continue preseason play on Monday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. in an exhibition against Fresno Pacific at the Save Mart Center.