Team's focus stays on court

Women win 73-64 in first game since coach's firing

By NATHAN HATHAWAY

With the backs of their minds now void of the coaching drama, the Fresno State women’s basketball team was free to focus all its energy on beating San Jose State.

That extra focus paid off Thursday night as the Bulldogs topped the Spartans 73-64 in front of an announced crowd of 3,545 at the Save Mart Center.

With the win, the Bulldogs ensured they will not have to play a play-in game at next week’s WAC tournament, the third straight year the Bulldogs (18-9, 9-8 Western Athletic Conference) will have a first-round bye.

“I don’t know if the girls really know the situations,” interim coach Adrian Wiggins said. “They wanted to win these games, and they knew if they did that, everything else would fall into place.

Fresno State came out early in Thursday’s game and made sure the Spartans didn’t get off to an ideal start, forcing San Jose State to turn over the ball on its first four possessions, though Fresno State was able to turn that into only two points. The Spartans had six turnovers in the first four minutes of the game.

The Bulldogs took no chances inside against the conference’s leading shooter, trying to double-team freshman forward Amber Jackson every time she caught the ball inside in the first half.

But Wiggins said that wasn’t by design.

“I have no idea where that came from. That wasn’t really what we wanted to do,” Wiggins said. “We did a lot. We were helping really early. She still got good looks and scored.” Jackson had 10 points in the first half on 5-for-6 shooting. She finished with 14 points.

The Bulldogs had some of their best ball movement of the season, making quick, crisp interior passes that caught the defense off-guard and often resulted in open looks for Fresno State.

Fresno State overcame its own poor shooting in the first half to take a 33-30 lead into halftime. The Bulldogs’ saving grace in the first half was their ability to force turnovers. Fresno State forced 15 turnovers, nine of them off steals, in the opening half. The Spartans finished with 26 turnovers, double Fresno State’s 13.

“Our game plan was to speed them up and we felt they would turn it over some,” Wiggins said. “They did. That was nice.”

San Jose State (16-11, 9-8 WAC) wasted no time establishing itself in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs 16-4, including a 12-0 stretch, in the first five minutes of the half while shooting 85 percent to the Bulldogs’ 20 percent.

“What was going through my head was ‘they just won’t go away,’ ” said point guard Mirenda Swearengin, who posted her first career double-double with 11 points and a team-leading 10 rebounds. “(I thought,) ‘we need to pick up the intensity.’ ”

But Fresno State retook control, battling back with an 18-4 run of its own to take a 55-50 lead. Fresno State shot 6 for 8 from the floor during the nearly seven-minute stretch while the Spartans went 2 for 10 and committed four turnovers.

“In the second half, I felt, especially in the last 10 minutes of the game, we did a good job defending the way Fresno State defends,” Wiggins said. “And because of that I thought our pressure created some trouble for them.”

Aritta Lane led all scorers with 22 points. Amy Parrish and Chantella Perera had 13 points apiece.

San Jose State senior Lamisha Augustine, a Roosevelt High graduate, had nine points and 10 rebounds in her final trip to Fresno as a member of the Spartans.

San Jose State made a strong push at the end, but the Bulldogs came through when they needed to most, hitting nine of 12 free throws and an Aritta Lane 3-pointer in the final two minutes.

“We match up well with San Jose State. We have for a few years now,” Wiggins said. “We’ve always played them well.”