Fresno State Athletics
Bulldogs Have Historic Season
6/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
June 16, 2008
FRESNO, Calif. - The 2007-08 women's basketball season was a history-making year as Fresno State won the program's first ever conference championship, tournament championship and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in the school's 43 year history.
The Bulldogs finished the year with a 22-11 mark and a 14-2 conference record. The historic season saw the Bulldogs garner numerous awards as Adrian Wiggins was named WAC Coach of the Year, Tierre Wilson WAC Player of the Year and Jaleesa Ross WAC Newcomer of the Year. Ross and Hayley Munro were also named to the All-Freshman team. Wilson also earned Honorable Mention All-American honors.
"We had a very successful season," Wiggins said. "One thing I have learned is that it takes a village to raise a child. This women's basketball program has a lot of people working behind the scenes to help it grow. We want to be a top 25 team year in and year out. When we get there it will be because of those people and our player's commitment to one another."
Fresno State became the third school since 1990 to have four different players earn WAC Player of the Week awards. Ross earned the award twice while Munro, Wilson and Erica Henry garnered the award once.
The success of the 2007-08 team can be traced back to the leadership of Wilson and Erica Henry. The two seniors not only led the Dogs statistically but they were leaders off the floor in helping a team of nine newcomers win a WAC title.
"The leadership of our two seniors gave confidence to our young players," Wiggins said. "Many times in life and athletics you become what you think you will become. Our team believed they could be WAC champions because Tierre and Erica believed it."
Wilson finished her career as the fifth all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,357 points. Her 15.6 points a game she averaged this year was the ninth best single season average in school history. Wilson also finished her career at Fresno State in the top 10 in field goals made (5th), career scoring average (ninth) and steals (seventh). She garnered Honorable Mention All-American honors by the Associated Press.
Henry finished her career at Fresno State with the fourth best shot blocking mark in school history with 88. Her .541 field goal percentage this year was the fifth best single season mark in school history and she had the eighth best career field goal percentage mark at .498.
This year also saw several first-year players make an immediate impact on the floor. The most notable impact was the play of Ross as she finished the year second on the team in scoring at 12.8 points a game. She tied the single season 3-point record with 89 while shooting 42 percent from beyond the arc. Ross finished the season by hitting a 3-pointer in 23 straight games.
In the Bulldogs run to the WAC tournament championship the freshmen class of Ross, Marnique Arnold, Munro, Emma Andrews and Taja Edwards combined to average 50.6 points as game.
"The freshmen were amazing because they were fearless," Wiggins said. "The bigger the game the more focused they were. They can have a great legacy here in women's basketball if they continue to be great followers until it is their turn to lead this team."
Along with the individual honors the Bulldogs set several team records during the course of the season. After starting the season 0-6 and 2-8, the Dogs then proceeded to finish the season winning 20 of their final 23 games. During that stretch Fresno State tied a school record for most consecutive wins with nine and tied a school record for the best start in conference play by starting WAC play with a 6-0 record.
"They key to the turnaround was our seniors demanding our team to break out of our team huddles by saying "WAC Champs," Wiggins said. "They started the chant in December when we were 1-7. They believed and it was contagious."
Three of those wins came against the storied program of Louisiana Tech. No team had beaten the Lady Techsters three times in the same season.
"Honestly, coaches usually remember the losses more than the wins," Wiggins said. "But when we beat La. Tech in Ruston, La., I knew we had a special team. That was a great program win."
During conference play Fresno State outscored opponents 72-59 and beat opponents by average score of 74-53.
One of the biggest highlights of the conference season came on March 1 when Munro hit a shot from just beyond half court to lift the Bulldogs to an 85-84 overtime victory over New Mexico State. The shot was seen on ESPN's Top 10 Plays of the Week.
Of the 22 wins, 19 were by 10 points or more. The Dogs recorded their third largest victory in 16 years when they beat Cal State Bakersfield 93-50. During the season coach Wiggins picked up his 50th career victory at Fresno State with a 66-55 win at Long Beach. He then earned his 100th career win with an 83-65 victory at Fresno State.
Fresno State swept through the WAC tournament beating San Jose State 87-76, Louisiana Tech 85-58 and New Mexico State 72-56. The win over New Mexico State gave the Dogs the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they earned a 14th seed in the Albuquerque region and played the third seed Baylor Lady Bears. The Bulldogs did lose 88-67 to Baylor in the first round of the tournament. The loss did not dampen the spirits of the historic season the Bulldogs had.
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