Going for 4 straight
By NATHAN HATHAWAY
For the Fresno State women’s basketball team, this weekend is all
about revenge and payback.
The team opens its final road trip of the season at Tulsa on Thursday
.
“We just want to go in there and we just want to whoop their tail,”
sophomore Jasmine Plummer said. “They came in here and whooped our
tails, so that was kind of embarrassing. Hopefully we can go in there
and do the same, embarrass them in front of their crowd.
Sophomore Jasmine Plummer leads the WAC in steals per game with
2.43. Photo by Joseph Hollak |
“That’s a game that’s personal for us. They don’t
like us, and we don’t like them.”
The Golden Hurricane came in to the Save Mart Center last month and jumped
out to a 35-12 lead 13 minutes into the game. In the stretch, Tulsa outscored
Fresno State 18-2 in the paint.
But Fresno State battled back and went on a 30-8 run spanning halftime
and held Tulsa without a field goal for more than nine minutes to end
the first half.
“That was kind of an embarrassing game,” Plummer said. “But
we fought back, so we made a good game of it.”
Rice is led by sophomore forward Jillian Robbins, who leads the Western
Athletic Conference in rebounding (8.8 rebounds per game) and is third
in the conference in scoring (15.6 points per game) and blocked shots
(2.41 per game). Robbins, the reigning WAC freshman of the year and an
All-WAC selection last year, had 15 points and 15 rebounds against Fresno
State when the teams played at the Save Mart Center on Jan. 22.
For Fresno State, Plummer leads the WAC in steals, averaging 2.43 per
game, while also scoring 6.7 points and pulling down five rebounds per
game.
Forwards Amy Parrish and Aritta Lane average 13.1 and 11.9 points, respectively.
And Lane is second only to national leader Amber Jackson (San Jose State)
in the conference in field goal percentage.
Lane is shooting better than 55 percent for the season.
The Golden Hurricane (14-8, 6-6 WAC) is riding a three-game losing streak,
the mirror image of the Bulldogs’ (15-7, 7-6 WAC) winning streak.
But the game Fresno State forward Lane said is the most encouraging to
the Bulldogs is Tulsa’s 61-53 home loss to San Jose State on Jan.
27. Fresno State beat the Spartans 79-63 in San Jose earlier this year.
“San Jose, that’s motivation to us,” Lane said. “San
Jose beat them at their house, Tulsa. We beat San Jose by 16, and they
did improve after we played them, but we still have a really big shot
at doing just as well.”
Lane said the Bulldogs hope to carry the recent success the team has built
in their past few games on the road with them.
“Our momentum is good right now,” Lane said. “Everything
is running the way that we want it to. Shot selection has improved tremendously.
Our goals are still the same.”
The Bulldogs will go on the road without their coach for the first time
all season. Stacy Johnson-Klein, still on paid administrative leave pending
a university investigation, won’t travel with the team.
“It’s our first trip without her, and we want to see if we
can do it,” Plummer said. “Of course it’s in your mind.
It’s going to be different. It’s not like our manager’s
not coming. Our head coach is not coming. Hopefully we can just get that
out of our mind and just play.
“It’s about us. It’s not about the whole situation.
We’re just here to play basketball. We’re the athletes here.”
Point guard Mirenda Swearengin said this trip will be key to the Bulldogs’
ability to establish themselves as a contender heading into the WAC tournament.
“These past three games we’ve played, we’ve really played
well. We’re really trying to keep it up,” Swearengin said.
“It is clutch time, and we don’t need to lose anymore.
“We want to let the conference know that we’re still in it.
We’re not out yet.”
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