Looking for a victory at home

Fresno State hasn't won a Western Athletic Conference game at the Save Mart Center yet this season

By NATHAN HATHAWAY / The Collegian

It’s almost the middle of February, the Western Athletic Conference portion of the basketball schedule is 11 games old, and the Fresno State women’s basketball team is still looking for its first conference home win.

The Bulldogs, 0-4 in WAC games at the Save Mart Center this season, just haven’t been able to find a groove on their home floor.

“Something about [the Save Mart Center] doesn’t like us, obviously,” sophomore guard Chantella Perera said. “We just need to find a feeling for it and take ownership.”

But the team is hoping to change its luck at home beginning Thursday.

“I think we’re hungry again to win at home,” Perera said.

The Bulldogs return home from a hard-fought split of a two-game roadtrip against Louisiana Tech and Southern Methodist to host Texas-El Paso on Thursday and Boise State on Saturday.

It will be a revenge-minded series for the Bulldogs — on both benches.

Before Fresno State lost to Louisiana Tech last Thursday, UTEP was the only team to beat the Bulldogs on the road since January 2004. So Fresno State is going into the game with payback in mind.

“We like to think that no team can beat us twice,” Perera said. “So it’s big revenge time on Thursday night.”

UTEP shot a season-best 49.1 percent and withstood a strong second-half effort from Fresno State to beat the Bulldogs 68-64 in El Paso on Jan. 15. The loss snapped Fresno State’s then 10 game road winning streak, the longest streak in the nation at the time.

Perera scored 23 points for the Bulldogs in the loss, including four 3-pointers.

Two days earlier, the Bulldogs topped Boise State 59-53 in Idaho. The Broncos sit in ninth place in the conference and are only 1-8 on the road this year, but taking Boise State lightly would be a mistake. The Broncos (8-12, 3-8 WAC) are the only WAC team to knock off conference leader Louisiana Tech this year, and Boise State also beat Tulsa in overtime last week. The Bulldogs lost to Tulsa at the Save Mart Center on Jan. 22.

“I’m not nervous about Boise State, but they’ve had some upsets, so we’ve got to bring it,” junior forward Amy Parrish said. “We know they can play, so we know we have to play. So I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”

Fresno State’s post players have been a big factor in the Bulldogs’ recent improved play. Senior forward Aritta Lane has three double-doubles this year and posted a career-high 31 points in last Thursday’s loss to the Lady Techsters. And Parrish is putting up some of the best numbers of her career. The junior has scored 20 or more points in four of the past five games and has scored at least 11 points in 11 straight games. In WAC play, Parrish is averaging 16.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

“She’s doing amazing. Any time we get her the ball in the post, it’s two points guaranteed,” Perera said of Parrish. “She’s a great inside force for us. It takes a lot of pressure off everyone else. She’s doing awesome in carrying the team. She’s playing a dominant role and she’s showing that she’s a dominant force inside not only in the WAC, but around the nation, as well.”

Parrish, however, said her recent success is simply a result of a balanced offense.

“When we first started playing, it was a lot of the guard game. Now people are underestimating our post game, and it’s allowing us (to score),” Parrish said. “Plus we’ve gotten better at getting it into the post, and it’s just kind of taking advantage of the areas that we can. If you aren’t going to guard the post, we’re going to score. If you aren’t going to guard the guards, we’re going to score. There’s going to be times all season when somebody’s scoring 20-plus points, and that shows, I think, the versatility of our team.”