Women roll to victory
Fresno State jumps out to a 44-14 halftime lead in win
By NATHAN HATHAWAY
With the plot thickening in the women’s basketball coach saga and the off-the-court news trumping what’s been happening on the court, Fresno State couldn’t have asked for a betterconference opponent this weekend than Nevada.
With a soap-opera quality drama to distract the team, the Bulldogs needed an opponent they could beat handily.
The Wolf Pack, 7-19 (3-13 Western Athletic Conference) was clearly overmatched and thoroughly outplayed in a 65-47 WAC loss to the Bulldogs.
As news regarding suspended coach Stacy Johnson-Klein continued to trickle out over the weekend, the Bulldogs insisted they had no problem maintaining their focus.
“They focused really well. They got on the floor, they rebounded well, they had great shot selection, we really got down the floor at a high speed,” interim coach Adrian Wiggins said, “and I thought it really created some fatigue in Nevada early, which being a road game this late in the conference, was definitely an advantage to us.”
And the Bulldogs didn’t just say they were able to maintain their focus; they showed it, building a 30-point halftime lead as they shot 56 percent from the field in the first half, their third-best half of the season. In the same stretch, Fresno State limited Nevada to just six field goals on 26-percent shooting.
Fresno State dominated Nevada inside, outscoring the Wolf Pack 50-12 in the paint and winning the rebounding battle 47-34.
Nevada led in the game for all of 48 seconds — until Fresno State overcame a 3-0 deficit. After a few minutes of back and forth, Fresno State closed the half by outscoring Nevada 30-3.
“Nevada’s a team that we’ve gotten close to, and any time you play against your friends, in a sense, I think sometimes you play harder,” Wiggins said. “It’s like playing against your brother or sister. So they definitely had a lot of emotion tonight.”
The teams cultivated a relationship after the Bulldogs paid a visit to Nevada to support the team after Nevada assistant coach Mike Gervasoni, husband of head coach Kim Gervasoni, was killed in an auto accident in October.
Nevada returned the favor Saturday as assistant coach Kevin Chaney huddled with the Bulldogs and told them they had the Wolf Pack’s support.
The win evened Fresno State’s WAC record at 8-8 and guaranteed Nevada a spot in the bottom two for the third consecutive season.
As an added bonus in the game, Bulldogs’ freshman guard Kendra Walker-Roche returned to the lineup after being held out of four straight games while the athletic department investigated a secondary NCAA violation connected to Walker-Roche. The freshman took only one shot in Saturday’s game, missing on a 3-point attempt.
Junior forward Amy Parrish had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead four Fresno State players in double figures. Nevada’s Meghan McGuire led all scorers with 17 points.
During a media timeout in the game with just over three and a half minutes to go, a small group of fans unveiled a homemade banner saying “WE WANT STACY BACK.”
Fresno State players said that in this period of upheaval, such signs bother them.
“For me and talking to some of the other players, it’s very frustrating,” Parrish said. “It’s frustrating that you think people come to the games to watch us play a sport that we love to play and that hopefully they love to watch, and we’ve noticed some fans aren’t here for that.
“Some of the fans are here for Coach K. It would just be nice if it was switched around to actually just supporting us. Off the court, they can support whoever they want, but it’d be nice if they supported us when they were [at the Save Mart Center].”
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