Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Bradley
Women's Basketball Falls to Bradley 80-62
12/1/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2001
PEORIA, Ill. - Bradley received double-digit scoring efforts from four players and continued its magical start to the 2001-02 season by defeating Fresno State 80-62 at the Robertson Memorial Coliseum. The loss drops the Bulldogs' record to 3-2 while the Braves improved to 6-0, the best start in program history.
The story of the contest was written in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Trailing just 41-37 at halftime, Fresno State turned frosty in the converted airplane hangar Bradley uses as its home facility, making just four of its first 17 shots in the second stanza. And while the Bulldogs were struggling, Bradley was busy building a 13-point lead with 10 minutes to go in the contest.
But Fresno State didn't go down without a fight. The Bulldogs finally found their shooting touch and snipped the lead down to 62-56 when Lindsay Logan hit a three-pointer with 5:33 to go, capping a 9-2 Bulldog run. But the Braves quickly doused FS's momentum, going on a 9-0 streak of their own to increase the advantage to 71-56 with 3:34 left. BU was never in danger the rest of the way.
"We did not play a full 40 minutes today, and that hurt us," head coach Britt King said. "I thought we played hard in the first half, and we stayed right with them. But we just didn't make our shots at the beginning of the second half."
The way the first half was played, it appeared the game could go down to the wire. The largest lead in the opening 20 minutes was seven, and there were seven lead changes. As time was running down in the first half, BU led by only two, but a basket at the buzzer by Dena Williams gave the Braves a 41-37 lead heading into the locker room.
Bradley received a full complement of solid performances, headlined by Sara Bailey's 22 points and eight rebounds. As the team's leading scorer, Bailey's effort was expected. However, the biggest surprise in the game was Williams, who came in averaging just 4.2 points and 12.6 minutes per game. But against Fresno State, the freshman exploded, scoring a career-high 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting and pulled in 10 rebounds. Bradley also received a double-double from Lora Weber, who had 14 points and a career-high 10 assists.
For the Bulldogs, Logan led the way with 19 points. Aritta Lane, in her first career start, had 12 points and 13 rebounds for her second career double-double. Fresno State shot only 35 percent in the contest, including 27 percent in the second half.
"We can't dwell on this loss," King said. "We play Cal State Fullerton on Monday, and we need to bounce back. The best thing we can do now is learn from this defeat and come out stronger in our next game."
FS plays the Titans on Monday at 7 p.m. at the North Gym.
