Hot January continues for women
Ryan Tubongbanua / The Collegian
Above: Coming within only an assist of a triple-double, Fresno State point guard Mirenda Swearengin guided the Bulldogs to a 25-point victory. Swearengin ended her night with an impressive 12 points, 12 rebounds and 9 assists, narrowly missing out on the first triple-double in women's basketball history. Below: Looking for a shot against the Hawaii defense, senior Amy Parrish ducks under the arm of her defender. Parrish finished the night with 14 points.
|
By Chhun Sun
The Collegian
Almost doesn’t count.
The above sentiment might ring true in many situations, but it doesn’t apply to Mirenda Swearengin, who almost became the first player in school history to record a triple-double.
The senior guard fell one assist short to go along with her 12 points and 12 rebounds, as well as getting seven steals.
It didn’t matter, though.
Mirenda Swearengin |
“If I get it, I get it. If I don’t, I don’t,” she thought when she learned that her interim coach, Adrian Wiggins, gave her two minutes to complete the task. She didn’t, of course.
But every basket, every rebound, every assist and every steal from Swearengin were more than enough to help the Bulldogs get an easy 77-52 victory over Hawaii, keeping them on top of the Western Athletic Conference and extending their winning streak to six. Fresno State (13-4, 5-0 WAC) and San Jose State (3-0) are the only two teams in the conference to have an undefeated record.
So does that mean the Bulldogs are the team to beat in the WAC?
According to Wiggins, not exactly.
“I think LA Tech is the team to beat. We just try to enjoy the win, enjoy the moment. If you ask any championship team, they’ll tell you it’s a long season. We haven’t played everybody twice,” he said.
Such modesty, especially considering his Bulldogs knocked off four-time defending WAC champions LA Tech on Jan. 14 and came out with a 76-57 runaway win Thursday at Idaho.
And the Bulldogs continued to showcase their dominance against Hawaii, a team that beat Texas A&M and lost to LA Tech in overtime. But Hawaii never had a chance.
The Bulldogs gave no-look passes, had breakaway layups and even had a transitional fast break that ended with a reverse layup from Tierre Wilson, erupting cheers from the announced crowd of 3,124. It was all part of the fun.
Not even a scary moment in the first half kept the Bulldogs from having their fun.
Late in the first half, Chantella Perera, who finished 13 points, four rebounds and three assists, rammed into a Hawaii defender, causing her to fall straight to the floor.
“She ran into a truck,” Wiggins joked.
It took Perera almost a minute to shake it off. “I don’t even know what happened. I hit a wall and saw the ground,” she said with a chuckle.
The Bulldogs, whose biggest lead was 32, went into the second half with a 41-22 lead. Fresno State then went on a 16-5 run in the first four minutes.
The inside presence of Amy Parrish and Jasmine Plummer—who had five steals to go with her four points — made it difficult for Hawaii to score in the paint, despite being out-rebounded by Hawaii 47-41.
Then again, the Bulldogs only allowed Amy Sanders going into Saturday’s game averaging 13.2 points per game — to have a quiet four points.
Even Alofa Toiaivao’s 17 points, eight rebounds and three blocks performance wasn’t enough for Hawaii to pull off a victory.
“Tonight was a confidence boost,” said Parrish, who scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half. “We’re sharing the ball, everything is falling our way and we’re getting the win.”
Comment on this story in the Sports forum >>
|
