'Dogs put on defensive display
Forced
turnovers turn defense into offense in a 91-46 exhibition win over crosstown
rival Fresno Pacific
Joseph Vasquez
/ The Collegian
Defense took over for
the Bulldogs, who forced 39 Fresno Pacific turnovers. Kendra Walker-Roche
chipped in with nine points, four assists and one steal. |
By Maggie Thach
The Collegian
If the exhibition game against
Fresno Pacific Monday night is any kind of indication of how the season
will fare, it’s going to be a dominating one; dominating on the
offensive boards, in defensive pressure and in tempo of the game.
Even though Fresno Pacific is an NAIA school, the meetings the last two
years were competitive, but this year was drastically different.
In a 91-46 rout over the Sunbirds, Fresno State forced 39 turnovers and
had nine blocked shots. The trio of Brittani Green, Erica Henry and Faith
Probst controlled the offensive boards and Jasmine Plummer had the most
complete game with six points, three assists, four blocked shots and eight
steals.
First-year head coach Adrian Wiggins was pleased to see the players step
up, especially with preseason all-WAC first-team pick Amy Parrish out
with a hamstring injury.
“I was encouraged. Erika was a physical presence, getting boards
and making baskets,” Wiggins said.
“And Jasmine has something
special in that she doesn’t have to score to spark us. She did that
with blocked shots and her energy on defense.”
The first half didn’t look so encouraging. Fresno Pacific scored
the first basket and the Bulldogs remained scoreless until 17:41. But
after the first basket in the game, a three-pointer by Paige Diggs, the
Bulldogs turned up the defensive pressure and the turnovers seemed to
just fall into the Bulldogs’ hands. Even in Plummer’s limited
time, it was her defensive tenaciousness that rattled the Sunbirds.
“Jasmine’s defense always kills them,” Green said. “Our
defense turned into our offense.”
Even with stingy defense, the Sunbirds didn’t trail by more than
10 points for most of the first half. The Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run at
the end of the first half and took a 35-19 lead into halftime.
Everything after that went downhill for Fresno Pacific. Not more than
six minutes into the second half, Toni Atherly made three 3-pointers and
Chantella Perera added one after only making 1 of 14 in the first.
The three-pointers sparked a 23-2 run and the lead ballooned to 48 before
the game was over.
For the game, the Bulldogs held the Sunbirds to a shooting percentage
under 30 percent and1 for 8 from beyond the arc. Fresno Pacific turnovers
almost matched its point total. Melissa Montoya led the Sunbirds in scoring
with eight points.
Playing time was well-distributed and it was time well spent as all players
scored.
Now the team will focus on improving its man-defense and having more fluidity
in its offense.
“This is a game to get all your bad things out,” Plummer said.
“We’re going to watch this film and work on we need to for
the next game.”
The Bulldogs will face the Melbourne Roos, a team from Australia, Nov.
15 in its last exhibition game before heading to UC Irvine to open up
the season Nov. 18.
Parrish is expected to sit out against Melbourne Roos and Wiggins said
she should be back for the season opener.
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