Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
19-7,10-3
Nevada
14-13, 8-6
Bulldogs Beat Nevada on Pink Zone Night
2/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2009
FRESNO, Calif. - On a night when the largest crowd of the season showed up at the Save Mart Center for Pink Zone Night, the Fresno State women's basketball team defeated the University of Nevada 65-53 in front of a crowd of 3,127 on Friday night. The Bulldogs remain in the first place in the WAC at 10-3 and they are 19-7 overall. Nevada dropped to 14-13 and 8-6 in WAC.
"What a great night," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said. "The fans really showed up for us and they were loud and supportive. This was for a great cause and it was a neat thing to be a part of. The Think Pink month has become a really neat thing in women's basketball."
Jaleesa Ross led the Bulldogs with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field while Hayley Munro had 10 points, five rebounds and four assists. As a team the Bulldogs shot 42 percent from the field and hit 11 3-pointers while turning it over only 11 times.
Nevada turned the ball over 20 times and was led by Dellena Criner's 13 points. The Wolf Pack did out rebound the Bulldogs 34-29 and shoot 49 percent from the field.
"Nevada did a good job," Wiggins said. "They have a good basketball team and coach Albright has done a good job in bringing some fire to their program. Our team played well and made baskets early which took our minds off the fact that we hadn't played in 12 days. We got better as the game went on."
The Bulldogs never trailed and jumped out to a 12-4 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Nevada later tied the contest at 19 with 7:44 left until halftime but the Bulldogs then went on a 12-2 run to lead 31-21 following a Munro jumper with 4:27 left in the period. The Bulldogs led 36-28 at halftime.
The Wolf Pack got within six at 38-32 in the first three minutes of the second half but the Bulldogs quickly extended its lead to 46-34 three minutes later on two Marnique Arnold free throws. Then with Fresno State leading 48-40 with 10:54 remaining in the game, the Bulldogs went on a 14-4 run to lead 62-44 with 5:25 left in the game after a Ross layup.
The `Dogs biggest lead of the game was 19, at 65-46 with four minutes remaining.
"We just had a really strong defensive effort tonight," Wiggins said. "If you think about it, I don't know how many times we got tips on passes and how many times we stole a lob pass. I thought we had a good effort there."
Fresno State returns to the floor on Monday at 7 p.m. when they play host to Louisiana Tech. Louisiana Tech is second in the WAC at 9-4 and plays host to Utah State on Saturday night.
"Join the State - Fresno State" The Fresno State women's basketball team hosts Louisiana Tech on Monday at 7 p.m. For ticket information log onto gobulldogs.com.
