Fresno State Athletics
Women's Hoops Hosts Two Games This Week
2/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2007
Fresno, Calif. -
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Tip-Off
Coming off of a home win against the WAC leader, Fresno State will try to get a home sweep of the top two teams in the league when Lousiana Tech visits the Save Mart Center on Thursday. Fresno State got their first win against La Tech last season at home, beating the Lady Techsters 67-58, capitalizing on 17 points from Tierre Wilson.
Looking Ahead
The Bulldogs close out the year playing four of their final five games at home, including their next game against New Mexico State. Fresno State lost on the road in Las Cruces the last time the teams met, and will try to avenge that loss Saturday starting at 1 p.m. Like the remainder of the team's home games, fans can listen to that game on 1430 ESPN Radio, and the Bulldogs finish their TV showcase with this game, carried on Comcast Cable 14 with Rob Emler calling the action.
Around The Corner
Fresno State plays four out of their last five games at home, which started last Saturday when the Bulldogs beat Boise State 69-61 on Saturday, Feb. 17 in the Save Mart Center. After this week, the Bulldogs will play one more road game at Boise State, and then travel to the WAC tournament in Las Cruces, N.M. The regular season finale will come in between those two events, as the Bulldogs host Utah State to end the year.
Scouting Louisiana Tech
One of the conference's perennial powers, the Lady Techsters have bounced back from a slow start to hold onto second place in the conference as the WAC moves through their final two weeks. After beginning the year 2-7, La Tech has rebounded to a 15-11 record, including a 10-3 conference mark, including a perfect 6-0 mark on the road in WAC play. Moore is the word for La Tech, as Shan Moore and Ty Moore lead the team in scoring, with Shan coming in first at 13.5 per and Ty just behind with 12.2 points per game and 9.4 rebounds per game, second in the conference.
Fresno State All-Time vs. The Lady Techsters
The most lopsided series on the 2006-07 schedule, Fresno State picked up their first win against Louisiana Tech in the history of the series last year when the Bulldogs beat the Lady Techsters 67-58 at home last season. That success did not carry to the road either last season or this year however, setting the all-time mark at 13 games to 1.
Scouting New Mexico State
New Mexico State currently stands at seventh in the conference with a 5-7 WAC record. The Aggies are led by two athletic forwards in Sherrell Neal and Anikia Jawara. Neal is among the statisical leaders in the conference in both scoring and rebounding, sitting at second in scoring at 15.4 points per game and leading the league in rebounding with 10.1 rebounds per game, the only player in the WAC to average a double-double. Jawara averages 13.9 points per game, which also ranks among the WAC leaders.
Fresno State All-Time vs. The Aggies
New Mexico State holds a 5-4 edge in the all-time series after taking the first meeting between the two teams earlier this season 67-63. With that victory, the Aggies have now won two straight against the Bulldogs, including a win in the first round of the WAC tournament last season. Prior to that, Fresno State had swept the season series in 2005-06, New Mexico State's first year in the conference.
At The Line
Want to find a way to guess if the Bulldogs won before looking at the score? Take a look at the totals from the free throw line. Fresno State has outshot their opponent at the charity stripe 15 times so far this season, and is 13-2 in those games, but has never won when its opponent made more foul shots than the Bullldogs. That reflects on the program's belief that the team wants to make more free throws than the other team shoots.
Record Watch
Fresno State has two players making their way onto the career records lists in school history. Erica Henry entered the top 10 in career blocks this season, and is one block shy of 8th place in that category. Senior Chantella Perera is also well represented in the records books in many categories. Perera is currently fourth in career 3-pointers and threes attempted, eighth in free throws made and should join the top 10 in assists and scoring by the end of the year. In addition, she's second all-time in free throw percentage, and continuing to increase that percentage, where she has been among the national leaders in 2006-07.
