Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
12-9, 5-3
Idaho
5-16, 2-8
Bulldogs Cruise Past Idaho 75-53
2/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2007
Fresno, Calif. - Returning for one home game before taking their longest road trip of the year, the Fresno State women's basketball team treated home fans to a 75-53 blowout of Idaho. Leading by six at halftime, Fresno State used their pressure defense and an 8-0 run with four baskets by Paige Diggs to move out to a lead that was never again threatened. Chantella Perera led all scorers with 16 points, and both Tierre Wilson and Jenny Thigpin just missed double-doubles on the night.
"I thought that we did a lot of good things in this game," said head coach Adrian Wiggins. "We took advantage of layups and open court opportutinites, which is something that we came in wanting to do. I felt like we executed our game plan for 40 minutes today."
The Bulldogs came out from the opening tipoff pressuring the basketball, and it paid immediate dividends as the Bulldogs made two steals that led to easy baskets on the other end to open up a 4-0 lead. Both teams settled down, and Idaho pulled to within one at 13-12 after a Linsdsey Koppen jumper, but that was as close as the Vandals would get to taking the lead. Fresno State answered with a fast break layup from Chantella Perera and a three from Tierre Wislon to start a 9-0 run to extend their lead to 10 points. Idaho remained close through the end of the half, but 10 first half points from Wilson and 9 from Perera helped the Bulldogs to a 32-26 advantage at the break.
The second half consisted of more of the same. Rotating post players to limit the Vandals leading scorer, center Katie Madison, and hounding point guard Charlotte Otero, Fresno State continued to create opportunities for easy baskets which were converted by nearly everyone who took them. The two teams played evenly through the first five minutes, then Paige Diggs scored four straight baskets to take Fresno State to a 51-35 lead with 12:27 remaining in the game. Over the next seven minutes, the lead would balloon to as many as 27 points as the Bulldogs saw each player on the bench receiving playing time.
Along with Perera and Diggs, Wilson also reached double figures in scoring to go with 9 rebounds, and Thigpin finished the game with 10 rebounds and 8 points. The Vandals were led by Madison, the leading scorer in the WAC who ended the game with 15 points.
Fresno State continues conference play next week with two contests. First up for the `Dogs is a trip to Nevada, where the team will try to avenge a home loss on Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. After that, the Bulldogs head to New Mexico State on Saturday for the first game of the year with the Aggies. The Bulldogs then head to Hawai'i on Thursday, Feb. 15 before closing out WAC play with four out of their last five games in the Save Mart Center.
