Bulldogs are hurting after big loss

Fresno State's eighth- straight loss comes to No.8 Louisiana Tech, 85-52

By Darrell Copeland

Coming into Thursday night’s game against No. 8 Louisiana Tech, not many people expected the Fresno State women’s basketball team to pull off the impossible—and the Bulldogs didn’t.

The Bulldogs (7-13, 1-9 Western Athletic Conference) lost for the eighth consecutive time, 85-52 to the Lady Techsters.

“ When you shoot 17 for 70, you’re not gonna win many games,” Fresno State coach Stacy Johnson-Klein said.

The losing streak has been compared to a jungle animal of sorts by Johnson-Klein.

“ It’s this huge monkey that I don’t know if it will come off their back or not. I hope it does,” Johnson-Klein said.

Fresno State senior Mindy Clark, who had a team high 10 points in the loss, said she tries not to focus on the losing streak with good reason.

“ If you focus on it all the time, it’s just gonna eat you alive,” Clark said.

That kind of advice is just part of what Clark has been trying to pass on to her teammates during the past several weeks.

“ I’m trying to teach them the good and the bad things I’ve learned while being here,” Clark said.

In the first half of play, the Bulldogs shot a woeful 21.6 percent, a result of 8-for-37 shooting, including 1-for-10 from beyond the 3-point line.

“ We’re just not that good of shooters,” Johnson-Klein said.

But in the second half, Fresno State did all that Johnson-Klein has been asking of them for the past several weeks—improve.

After being outscored by 22 in the first half, the Bulldogs managed to contain the Lady Techsters to an 11-point advantage in the second half, compared with a 22-point first-half edge by Louisiana Tech.

Fresno State also managed to outrebound Louisiana Tech for the second time this season, but couldn’t put the rest of its game together to equal the intensity on the boards.

“ In a game like that you gotta bring your ‘A’ game and have some luck too, and we didn’t have either one,” said Johnson-Klein, a former Louisiana Tech assistant.

The highlight of the night came when generously listed 5-foot tall freshman Angelica Lopez came into the game.

One woman in the crowd felt especially pleased to see Lopez in the game, motivating her to yell a few words of encouragement.

“ Come on little one,” the woman said.

Even with encouragement, the Bulldogs are still trying to salvage some sort of positive aspect from each game.

“ I do see ample opportunity each night out to not only score but to put ourselves in a position to win,” Johnson-Klein said.

That is something that their opponent, a renowned national power, Louisiana Tech, has been able to do for years now. Johnson-Klein said she is hoping these growing pains are taking her team in the right direction to being able to achieve the same level of prominence.

“ You have to crawl to walk, you have to walk to run,” Johnson-Klein said.

The Bulldogs remain at home this weekend, hosting Southern Methodist at 1 p.m. in the Save Mart Center.