Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Santa Clara
Women's Basketball Falls to Santa Clara 75-65
12/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2001
FRESNO, Calif. - Playing without its best player, Fresno State battled but was not able to overcome Santa Clara in a 75-65 loss to Santa Clara at the North Gym. The loss, which snaps FS's four-game winning streak, drops the Bulldogs' record to 5-4. SCU improves to 7-2.
Lindsay Logan, the WAC's leading scorer, was held out of the contest due to a stomach virus. But despite her absence, which is expected to be limited to this game, Fresno State was never out of it. The Bulldogs never trailed by more than nine in the first half and went into the locker room down 31-23.
But in the second half, the Santa Clara offense, predicated on the three-point shot, began to awaken. SCU went 5-for-6 from beyond the arc coming out of the intermission and grabbed a 37-27 lead with 18 minutes to go.
Fresno State began to chip away, however. A quick 9-0 run over the next two minutes pushed the Bulldogs back within one. But Santa Clara, which responded to each FS challenge the entire night, went on a 9-0 run to increase the advantage back to 10. The Broncos were able to keep the Bulldogs at arm's length the entire rest of the night.
It was a tale of two halves for both teams. Santa Clara shot only 39 percent in the first half, including 2-of-10 from three-point range, while Fresno State made only 25 percent of its attempts. But in the second half, both teams found their shooting touch, with the Broncos shooting 61 percent from the floor and the Bulldogs making 54 percent of its shots.
And when it counted most, SCU proved just as solid from the free-throw line, converting a perfect 11-of-11 in the second half.
"It was our defense that let us down tonight," head coach Britt King said. "We just didn't play good enough defense. We got our shots, and with Lindsay [Logan] out we knew our posts were going to have to pick up some of the slack. But we missed too many shots in the paint in the first half, and that ended up really hurting us."
Omelogo Udeze led Fresno State with 16 points. Aritta Lane chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds and Veronica Mack, making her first career start, scored 11.
For Santa Clara, Tammy Annas scored 17 and Julie Butler added 14.
The Bulldogs don't play again until Friday, when they travel to play Saint Mary's at 7 p.m.
