Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Stanford
Bulldogs Play No. 2 Stanford Tough
12/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - In front of the largest crowd at the Save Mart Center since February 2005, the Fresno State women's basketball team played No. 2 Stanford closer than any team but No. 1 UCONN for just over a half. But the height and strength of the Cardinal players proved too much in the second half as Stanford beat the Bulldogs 68-46 on Wednesday evening at the Save Mart Center.
"I was really proud of a lot of things we did," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said. "I thought we had great effort, fought hard and played a lot of great basketball in a lot of ways. We had a few moments where we got frustrated and lost some composure. Good teams are going to capitalize on that. I was very proud of a lot of our effort but there are some things we can greatly improve on."
A crowd of 3,859 people showed up at the Save Mart Center for Pack the House Night. The previous highest crowd was 6,171 on February 26, 2005 against Nevada.
"It was a great environment, great game and a great response from the community," Wiggins said.
Emma Andrews and Jaleesa Ross led the Bulldogs with 10 points. Joh-Teena Filipe had a team-high seven rebounds while Ross had six rebounds.
The Bulldogs were held to 29 percent shooting from the field and only 29 rebounds while Stanford shot 44 percent and had 53 rebounds. The 68 points Stanford scored is 13 points below its season average of 81.2 points a game.
"We want to tip our hat to Stanford," Wiggins said. "They played a good game and really played a good second half in fighting through what we were trying to do. They physically did what they needed to do to try and get second shots. If the first ones didn't go in I thought they kept their speed and tempo up. It is a credit to them."
The Bulldog defense did hold Stanford to 32 percent shooting in the first half and trailed only 24-19 at halftime. Other than a two point halftime lead against No. 1 UCONN, this was the only other time Stanford led by single digits in the first half. The 24 points also tied for a season-low scored in the first half.
"I think in the first half you saw that ball pressure really helped us," Wiggins said. "You saw a lot of shots later in the shot clock and I think that helped us a lot. Against a team like Stanford you don't want to take shots quickly. They are too talented to mess up on one or two passes defensively."
Both teams exchanged leads in the first half as the Dogs led 6-5 six minutes into the game and later 11-8 after a Ross 3-pointer with 12:33 to play until the break. The Bulldogs maintained the 3-point lead at 13-10 two minutes later.
Stanford then took the lead for good at 15-13 with 9:03 to play and led 22-13 with 4:54 remaining in the period. Fresno State then scored six of the final eight points to trail by five going into halftime.
Four minutes into the second half Fresno State trailed 31-27 after two Rosie Moult free throws. Stanford then went on a 25-0 run to lead 56-27 with 8:36 left in the game. Stanford led by as many as 32 before the Bulldogs scored the final seven points of the game.
"We Are Your Team- Fresno State returns to the floor to play its final non conference game at 5 p.m. against CSU Bakersfield. The game can be heard live on 790 ESPN Radio. For tickets log onto gobulldogs.com.
