Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
St Marys Ca
Women's Basketball Falls in Overtime to Saint Mary's
12/21/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 21, 2001
MORAGA, Calif. - Saint Mary's withstood a furious Fresno State rally at the end of regulation and escaped with a 68-66 overtime victory before 1,034 at McKeon Pavilion. The loss, FS's third in a row, drops its record to 5-5 while SMC improves to 5-4.
The game dripped with intensity from the outset, with neither team ever able to shake the other. In the first half, Saint Mary's took a nine-point lead, its largest of the game, with 8 minutes 41 seconds left, but as both teams would all evening, the Bulldogs came back to shave the advantage to one at halftime. Omelogo Udeze had a solid first period, scoring nine points, including a nifty three-point play at the end of the half that snipped the SMC lead to 27-26.
The Bulldogs continued their strong play at the beginning of the second half. Using defensive pressure all over the court, FS forced multiple SMC turnovers, which the Bulldogs parlayed into an 11-0 run over a 3:56 stretch. The spurt gave Fresno State a 40-33 lead with 14:48 left in the game.
But almost immediately afterward, Saint Mary's turned up its defense and started executing its offense more consistently, pounding away at the Bulldogs until Jerkisha Dosty's basket with 42-41 with just over 10 minutes left. SMC continued to run its offense through identical twins Jermisha and Jerkisha Dosty, and the duo kept responding. Eventually, the Gaels capped a 17-3 run by going up 50-43 with 5:55 to go. On the evening, the Dosty's were 20-of-28 from the floor, scoring 44 of SMC's 68 points. The rest of the Gaels combined to shoot only 10-of-33.
But Fresno State was able to weather the storm and not let the game get away. A Lindsay Logan three-point play with 3:59 remaining cut the Saint Mary's lead to 53-48. And that triggered the Veronica Mack Show. As she did against San Francisco on Dec. 12, Mack started draining long, high arcing three-pointers. A 22-footer from the top of the key made it 53-51 with 3:14 to go. Two possessions later, she drained another three from the corner, cutting the lead to three points with 1:18 remaining on the clock. After a Bulldog steal, Mack did it again, nailing a trey from 22 feet, tying the score 57-57 with 35 ticks left.
Saint Mary's then called timeout to organize a final play. After working the ball around the perimeter, Gael point guard Corrie Mizusawa found an open Katie Davis, who drilled a three-pointer with nine seconds left, putting SMC up 60-57 and sending the sparse yet boisterous crowd into a frenzy.
It was then Fresno State's turn to devise a play coming off a timeout. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, the Mack Show wasn't finished quite yet. As time was running out, the freshman launched a 21-foot three-pointer, nearly as high as it was long, and nailed it as the buzzer sounded, tying the contest at 60-60 and forcing overtime.
Neither team gave an inch in the extra session. The lead switched hands on four consecutive possessions at one point, with neither team able to take a lead larger than two. An Udeze three-point play with 3:28 left gave Fresno State a 66-65 lead. But that was the last time the Bulldogs would score. Two Jermisha Dosty free throws with 2:07 to go up Saint Mary's up 67-66.
It stayed that way until less than a minute remainded. Lindsay Logan attempted an 18-footer from the top of the key but missed. Mizusawa rebounded the ball and managed to elude defenders until just seven ticks were left. She made one of two free throws to give the Gaels a two-point edge. In FS's final desperation attempt, Logan's three was off the mark and Saint Mary's escaped with a victory.
The Bulldogs were led by Udeze's 20 points. Logan had 14 points and eight assists.
For Saint Mary's, the Dosty twins did it all. Jermisha had 27 points and 13 rebounds while Jerkisha tallied 17 points and six rebounds. SMC dominated Fresno State on the boards all evening, totaling a 43-29 rebounding advantage. The Gaels also made 49 percent of their field goal attempts compared to only 38 percent for the Bulldogs.
Fresno State takes a break for Christmas before returning to the court to open WAC play Friday against SMU. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. in the North Gym.
