'Dogs stampede past Vandals
Joseph Vasquez / The Collegian
Fresno State’s Tierre Wilson (left), Brittny Jones and teammates gave Idaho fits with their pressure defense and relentless fastbreak attack in a 22-point blowout for the Bulldogs. |
By Darrell Copeland III
The Collegian
Too many things were going wrong, so the Fresno State women’s basketball team decided to make things right.
Entering Saturday’s game against Idaho, the most recent memory for the Bulldogs was a 38-point loss at Louisiana Tech, so the Bulldogs decided to do something to change that, blowing out the Vandals 75-53.
“I think you have that potential a couple of times out of 30 games a year,” Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said in regards to the loss at Louisiana Tech.
Still, Wiggins had the task of getting the Bulldogs back on track against one of the Western Athletic Conference’s weaker teams. Thanks to Paige Diggs and her come-out-of-nowhere 14 points, Wiggins’ task was made much easier.
Diggs and company pressured the Vandals with traps on defense and ran the fast break on offense, but did not see the payoff until the second half.
Despite the effort in the first half, the Bulldogs could not consistently make shots, missing 17 of 30 shot attempts.
Normally, the 43.3 shooting percentage that results from such an effort would be suitable, but many, if not most of the missed attempts came inside of the paint, often a layup.
Those conversions in the second half led to the rout, many of which came at the hands of Diggs.
With Fresno State’s Chantella Perera and Tierre Wilson receiving so much attention on the offensive side of the ball, Diggs was able to sneak behind the defense, converting seven of her 14 baskets and grabbing six rebounds for the Bulldogs.
“Yeah, well I notice her,” Wiggins said about Diggs’ surprising performance. “Tonight she had great shot selection.”
In the big picture, the victory is a shot of confidence for the Bulldogs, who have battled issues with confidence for much of the season.
“I think for a while, we didn’t realize we could beat top-25 teams,” Diggs said. “I think we think too much about making mistakes.”
Wiggins feels that a contributing factor to the lack of self-esteem may have to do with the Bulldogs inability to accept the style of basketball they need to play to be successful.
“It’s OK that we don’t look good when we play,” Wiggins said. “We’re a sloppy team and that’s OK.”
It should come as no surprise that Fresno State’s win over Idaho qualified as sloppy, as the Bulldogs committed 14 turnovers to the Vandals’ 12.
The turnover statistic isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Bulldogs, it’s just something that Wiggins would like his team to recognize as being a part of who they are, and a good part at that.
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