Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
11-4, 2-0
Hawai'i
3-11, 0-1
Bench Sparks Bulldogs to Victory
1/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - The bench of the Fresno State women's basketball team sparked the Bulldogs to a 78-50 victory over Hawai'i on Thursday night at the Save Mart Center. The win ups Fresno State's record to 11-4 and 2-0 in WAC play while the Rainbow Wahine dropped to 3-11 and 0-1 in conference.
"We were very excited about the bench play tonight," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said. "We had some players step up and not just make shots but they really played well defensively, were aggressive and they rebounded well. It led to a fun night for us as coaches to be able to watch that."
Ashley Walker, Brittny Jones and Taja Edwards came off the bench to score career highs in points as Walker had a game-high 13 points, Edwards 12 and Jones 11. Hayley Munro also had 12.
"I thought Brittny did a great job with the tempo of the game," Wiggins said. "She kept it playing fast but still made great choices. Taja and Ashley defended and rebounded really well. You can win with that but to top it off they scored too."
The Bulldogs out rebounded Hawai'i 39-31 and forced 25 turnovers. Fresno State also had a season-high 18 steals and tied a season high in assists with 20. Munro led the Bulldogs in rebounding with eight while LaShay Fears and LaToya Brown each had five assists and no turnovers. In the last two games Fears has 11 assists and no turnovers.
"We did a better job of finding the open areas tonight," Wiggins said. "We had fun with it tonight. This game we had fun figuring out what was open. I thought that was the highest part of our night."
The Bulldogs led 14-8 with 11:41 left in the first half and three minutes later the lead was extended to 27-15 following a 3-pointer by Jones. In the final minutes of the half, Fresno State led 31-22 with 4:30 remaining when Fears, Munro and Bailey Amundsen hit 3-pointers in the final minutes to give the Bulldogs a 40-22 lead at halftime.
Fresno State extended its lead to 50-30 eight minutes into the second half and the biggest lead of the game was the 78-50 final score.
"Join the State - Fresno State!" - The `Dogs continue home play at the Save Mart Center on Saturday, January 10 as they host Idaho at 2:00 pm. It's Pack the House Day as Fresno State Athletics tries to break the attendance record! Tickets are on sale now through the Save Mart Center box office, by calling (559) 485-TIXS or online at ticketmaster.com.
