Lady 'Dogs win shootout with No. 23 Lady Raiders

By Darrell Copeland III
The Collegian

It’s fair to compare the Fresno State women’s basketball team to a six-sided die.

Five sides of the die could represent the great play of the Bulldogs, while the remaining side would represent the how-did-they-let-that-happen part of the Bulldogs.

With No. 23 and Big 12 powerhouse Texas Tech in town, Fresno State head coach Adrian Wiggins was hoping one of the five “good” sides would emerge.

A 74-65 Bulldogs win later, and Wiggins had his answer. Less than a week after dropping consecutive games on the road to Oklahoma State and lowly CSU-Fullerton, the Bulldogs showed up with an upset on mind.

After dropping the Lady Raiders (6-2), the Bulldogs (4-2) have now upset the nation’s 23rd-ranked team for the second time this season. Fresno State also upset then No. 23 BYU in 61-51 win over the Cougars.

But the confidence gained with the BYU win was stomped on after the consecutive losses to Oklahoma State and Fullerton.

“We had a lot of things to prove to ourselves,” Fresno State senior Chantella Perera said.

Perera fell two rebounds short of a double-double after pulling down eight rebounds to go with 17 points.

The Bulldogs leading scorer was Tierre Wilson, whose hot start in the first half propelled the Bulldogs to a two-point half time lead. Wilson finished the night with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting.

The performances of both Perera and Wilson were much needed after senior Jasmine Marshall’s departure was announced earlier in the day. Marshall is expected to stay in school for the remainder of the semester, which raised questions as to why she quit the team at that time.

According to Wiggins, Marshall decided to leave the team after declaring she could no longer keep up the same level of commitment to the team as she had earlier in the season.

In a press release, Marshall was adamant about her reasons for leaving the team and cited her recent marriage to former Fresno State football standout Richard Marshall as a contributing factor.

“I hope that people understand that my reason for leaving had nothing to do with our team or coaching staff,” Marshall said. “I loved playing for Fresno State. It’s been an incredibly enjoyable experience. I love the team and the coaching staff is the best I’ve ever played for. It’s no secret that I recently got married and my husband lives on the other side of the country. Right now, I have to move forward in my life and with my family.”

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