Fresno Plummer-ing and heating
The Bulldogs' Jasmine Plummer is helping the 'Dogs heat up yet another winning streak
Ryan Tubongbanua / The Collegian
Fresno State's Brittani Green, surrounded by three Idaho players, looks for a possible shot. Green finished the night with 23 minutes played and 5 points on 2 of 7 shooting.
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By Maggie Thach
The Collegian
It happened at the beginning of the second half. Players were scrambling for the loose ball, bodies were flying and Mirenda Swearengin hit the floor. A foul was called and it was attributed to the Idaho Vandals’ leading scorer Amy Faurholt. The Idaho head coach Mike Divilbiss argued the call but to his strong dismay, Faurholt had received her fourth personal foul.
“You took out our best player. You friggin’ took out the best player,” Divilbiss said to the officials. “She’s a Wooden award finalist.”
But on the stats sheet, Faurholt was taken out of the game long before that, as she finished with six rebounds and seven points. Faurholt leads the conference in scoring with 18.6 points per game but with her performance Monday, she snapped her 72-game streak of consecutively scoring in double figures.
Even though the second leading scorer, on the team and in the WAC Leilani Mitchell, had 15, the Vandals lost 68-44.
What was the Bulldogs’ game plan for stopping Faurholt?
“The plan was Jasmine Plummer,” Wiggins said. “Emily’s a great player. She can score. It just tells you how good defensively Jasmine is.”
Fresno State (16–5, 8–1) beat Idaho (7–13, 3–6) with a balanced inside-outside game and an edge on the boards. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Vandals 43-29 and like Saturday’s game against Boise State, at least three players finished in double figures. Mirenda Swearengin had 12 and despite serving a one-game suspension, Amy Parrish, along with Chantella Perera, led Fresno State with 13 apiece.
It took a while for Fresno State to find its rhythm but the Bulldogs put points on the board by sharing the ball and that was evident through the 20 assists the Bulldogs dished out.
The lead was just six points at the half but Fresno State started the second with a 23-7 run. Shooting percentage remained the same as the first at around 45 percent while the Bulldogs kept the Vandals at 33 percent.
Before the reserves came in to finish the game with a little over two minutes left, Swearengin blocked an Idaho shot attempt, grabbed the loose ball, raced up the right side and passed a no-look bullet to Faith Probst for the 21-point lead.
With the win, the Bulldogs are tied for first place in the WAC with road games against San Jose State and Hawaii coming up.
“I think these are very big games,” Parrish said. “They’re games that if we fall asleep, we could lose them. If we can get through this, we’ll be in a good position.”
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