Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Fresno Pacific (Exhibition)
Dogs Flyover Sunbirds
11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Nov. 5, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - The defending Western Athletic Conference champion women's basketball team prepared for its season with the first of two exhibition games Wednesday night as the Bulldogs hosted Fresno Pacific University, an NAIA school from just a few miles south of the Fresno State campus.
After jumping out to an early lead, the Dogs held off the Sunbirds' early second half run to cruise to a 74-57 victory.
The game was the first of a double-header with the Bulldog men's team at the beautiful Save Mart Center. Fresno State will play the Melbourne Roos of Australia on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Save Mart Center. The Bulldog men's squad begins Sunday's double-header playing Cal State Stanislaus at 2 p.m.
Fresno State jumped to an early 12-4 over the first eight minutes of the game, led by sophomores Jaleesa Ross and Marnique Arnold, who combined to score half of the Dogs' points. The Sunbirds managed just five field goal attempts through the first eight minutes of the game.
Ross, the 2008 WAC Tournament MVP and 2007-08 WAC Newcomer of the Year, is projected as one of the top players in the conference for head coach Adrian Wiggins. Ross tied the Bulldog single-season record with 89 three point field goals last season.
Wiggins, the 2008 WAC Coach of the Year, steered the Bulldogs to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance. Fresno State won the WAC regular season and tournament championship last spring, also school firsts.
The Bulldogs opened their lead to 11 points, 21-10, by the third media timeout of the half. Bailey Amundson scored five points for the Dogs, including one three pointer, that stretch. She also had five rebounds in the first 14 minutes of the game.
Fresno State extended its lead to 29-14 with 2 minutes and 58 seconds remaining in the half and out-rebounded the Sunbirds by 10 (17-7) at that point.
The Bulldogs held an 11 point lead at halftime, 36-25. Amundson had 10 points and six boards in the half, making 4-of-5 field goals, two of them three pointers.
Fresno Pacific cut into the lead in the second half, reducing it to three points at 44-41 with 13:58 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs then bolted on a 16-5 run over the next four minutes eventually extending to a 17 point lead, the largest margin in the game, and the final score of 74-57.
"It's always good to play Fresno Pacific," said Wiggins after the game. "They play with such great structure and it was good for us to see that on the floor. They play hard and are well coached and a smart team. We had some spurts out there and that was good to see. That's such an important part of basketball and good teams can put together good spurts."
The Bulldogs got even scoring distribution from the lineup, with three players scoring 15 points or more. Ross and LaShay Fears each finished the game with 16 points. Fears led all scorers with 12 points in the second half. Amundson had 15 points and drilled three three-point field goals. What's more amazing as that the trio also led their team in assists, each with three.
"It's great see to the points spread around," said Ross, who finished with nine points and had three assists and two steals in 29 minutes of action. "Everyone got points, everyone got (playing) time. It was fun to play `team ball'."
While Wiggins was pleased with his team's overall effort, using this exhibition game is a good learning tool.
"We learned a lot tonight," he said. "We have some things we can work on, but I saw some good things. They shot 47% from the floor and we'd like to see that about 10% lower for what we try to do defensively. Overall, it was a good start. Something we can build on."
MacKenzie Butler and Jessica Torrecillas each scored 12 points to lead Fresno Pacific in scoring.
The Bulldogs made 51 percent of their field goal attempts (28-55) and had 14 more rebounds than the Sunbirds in the game, another area that pleased Wiggins.
"I thought we rebounded hard," he added.
Fresno State opens the regular season Nov. 14 at Cal State Bakersfield. The Dogs open the home schedule Nov. 20 against UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs have five excellent non-conference home games in December, featuring Mountain West Conference power TCU on Dec. 4 and West Virginia, a 2008 NCAA tournament team from the Big East Conference, on Dec. 20.
Join the State - Fresno State! Secure your seat now for exciting Bulldog Basketball as season tickets, mini-plans and single game tickets are on sale for the 2008-09 season. To order your tickets visit the Bulldog Ticket Office, call 278-DOGS or visit gobulldogs.com. The `Dogs host the Melbourne Roos in their final exhibition tune-up on Sunday, November 9 at 4:00 pm in the Save Mart Center. The men's Cal State Stanislaus ticket will be valid for the women's game. Tickets are on sale now through the Save Mart Center box office, by calling (559) 485-TIXS or online at ticketmaster.com.
