Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
<li> Idaho
Women's Basketball Dominates Idaho, 76-57
1/19/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2006
MOSCOW, Idaho- Hot shooting, crisp ball movement and a stingy defense were all contributing factors during Fresno State's dominating 76-57 road victory over Idaho on Thursday night.
Amy Parrish led Fresno State (12-4, 4-0 WAC) with 23 points, making 11-16 from the field while pulling down six rebounds. She was the recipient of several easy inside buckets, as the Bulldogs dished out 26 assists on the evening. Leading the effort was Mirenda Swearengin, who repeatedly zipped no-look passes into the post and finished with a career-best nine assists to go with five points and six rebounds.
Brittani Green chipped in with 10 points while Tierre Wilson added seven points and six assists off the bench for the Bulldogs, who extended their season-best winning streak to five. Fresno State shot a season-high 57.6-percent from the field and outrebounded Idaho 37-20.
Idaho (7-9, 3-2 WAC), which entered the game leading the WAC in assist/turnover ratio, committed 18 turnovers as Fresno State racked up 10 steals.
Perhaps more impressively, Fresno State did a solid job in containing Preseason Wooden Award finalist Emily Faurholt (15 points) and Leilani Mitchell (12 points), who represent the best scoring duo in the nation. Both were held below their averages of 20.0 and 19.3 ppg, respectively, and were hounded all night by counterparts Jasmine Plummer and Swearengin.
Free throws were a non-factor, with Fresno State making 3-3 and Idaho 9-11.
The game featured four ties and two lead changes through the first 10 minutes, with Idaho holding a 17-15 edge at the 10:35 mark.
Then the Bulldogs caught fire, ripping off a 14-4 scoring run to take a 31-19 advantage with 3:43 remaining in the half. Wilson converted on a three-point play to give Fresno State an 18-17 lead and quick buckets from Jasmine Plummer and Parrish made it a five-point game. A jumper from Faurholt trimmed the lead to 22-19 but the Bulldogs score nine unanswered points to take a 12-point lead.
The Bulldogs closed out the half leading 39-25 while shooting 53.1-percent from the field.
Fresno State scored 10 of the first 12 points to begin the second half and had built a 49-28 cushion before the first media timeout with 14:48 on the clock. Post players Parrish, Green and Andrea Roberson combined for the offense during that stretch.
At the 8:51 mark, Swearengin shoveled a pass into the post for Parrish, who found the basket to put the Bulldogs up by their largest lead of the night at 64-38.
Fresno State hosts Hawai'i (10-4, 1-2 WAC) on Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Save Mart Center to close out the week.
FRESNO STATE-IDAHO GAME NOTES
- The only previous meeting between the two schools occurred back on Mar. 20, 1986, when Idaho defeated Fresno State 74-61 en route to capturing the 1986 WNIT championship in Amarillo, Texas.
- Pronunciation help for other WAC cities: the correct pronunciation of Moscow rhymes with Costco and not the capital city of Russia.
- Fresno State has won a program-best seven consecutive conference games dating back to last season, when the `Dogs closed out league play with victories over Nevada, San Jose State and Hawai'i.
- Five players had at least four rebounds for Fresno State.
- In attendance tonight cheering on the `Dogs was Dana Lohrer (formerly Dana Sutton), who was joined by her husband Byron and daughter Jaycee (eight months). Dana served as the Bulldog's team manager during the 2002-03 campaign and now resides in Linden, Wash.
- The Idaho Vandals play their home games at Cowan Spectrum, joining Utah State's Dee Glen Smith Spectrum as the only other spectrum in the conference. There are six centers: Save Mart (Fresno State), Event (San Jose State), Thomas Assembly (Louisiana Tech), Pan American (New Mexico State), Stan Sherriff (Hawai'i) and Lawlor Events (Nevada). Meanwhile, the only arena is located in Boise, with the Broncos playing their home games at Taco Bell Arena.
- Swearengin was bidding to become the first Bulldogs player to dish out 10 assists in a game since Lindsay Logan tallied 10 in a win over Delaware State back on Nov. 17, 2001.
- Idaho's Leilani Mitchell swished a fade-away three-pointer from nearly 30 feet away as the shot clock expired, giving the Vandals an 8-7 lead with 14:56 remaining in the first period.
- Angelica Lopez checked in with less than a minute remaining, making her seventh appearance of the season.
