Bulldogs send Broncos down under
Fresno State routes Boise State behind 21 points from Chantella Perera
Ryan Tubongbanua / The Collegian
With another great performance against Boise State, Australian native Chantella Perera helped the Fresno State women's basketball team improve to 7–1 in the WAC. Perera also scored 21 points, including 3 of 6 on three-pointers. Below: Fresno State senior Faith Probst got the start for the usual starter Amy Parrish, who was suspended one game for fighting. Probst scored 11 points in the game.
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By Maggie Thach
The Collegian
Chantella Perera approached the game like she would any other. She doesn’t have a good luck charm or go through a ritual before the match-up, but for some reason, Perera always comes up big against the Boise State Broncos. Her point average goes up and her three-point shooting is sharper than usual.
Saturday’s game was no exception as she led all scorers with 21 points, six assists and four steals to help the Bulldogs to an 81-64 victory.
“I haven’t noticed [that I play better against Boise],” Perera said. “I don’t ever go into the game thinking I’ll do anything different.”
Besides Perera, three others finished scoring in double figures. Making her second start of the season, Faith Probst stepped in for the absent Amy Parrish and chipped in with 11 points while Mirenda Swearengin and Tierre Wilson had 17 and 12 points, respectively.
Swearengin started the offensive onslaught with a three-pointer, the first points of the game, and she wasn’t shy about getting into the lane, either. While there, if she wasn’t pulling off an acrobatic running lay-up, she was dishing it off or grabbing boards. She finished with three assists and six rebounds.
“I thought we all could do some damage,” Swearengin said. “I just tried to push the ball hard and break [Boise] down.”
The defensive intensity was high and Fresno State exploited the Broncos’ turnovers into breakaway lay-ups. The Bulldogs had 10 steals in the first half while limiting their turnovers to two, contributing to the 45-21 lead they took into halftime.
Even though the Broncos had two more rebounds, Fresno State controlled the tempo in every other category. They had 22 assists, compared to Boise State’s 12, had 18 total steals, shot 46.3 percent for the game and more importantly, had 12 less turnovers.
“We joke around about the fact we haven’t had a WAC player of the week in two years,” head coach Adrian Wiggins said. “There’s no one superstar on this team. The players were sharing the ball today and we not only got great shots, but we got the best shots we could get.”
Boise State picked up the pace at the start of the second half. They stepped in the passing lane and came away with more steals and started hitting their three-pointers, a sigh of relief for the Broncos, who only hit 30 percent from the field in the first half.
Despite outscoring Fresno State in the latter half, the Bulldogs lead hovered around 30 and only dipped below 20 when the reserves came in to finish the game. And it was only then that the Broncos retained an offensive flow, closing out the game on a 14-0 run.
No matter. The Bulldogs still got the win and the team effort Wiggins was looking for.
“We’re just sticking to the game plan,” Perera said. “It was a very well-rounded game but as a team, we’re nowhere near having the game that we could. It’s hard to have a perfect game but we’re continuing to grow and taking steps toward that.”
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