Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
24-8 (12-4WAC)
University of Nevada
18-14 (10-6WAC)
'Dogs To Go Dancing For Second Straight Year
3/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 14, 2009
Box Score 2009 Championship Game Photo Gallery
RENO, Nev. - The Fresno State women's basketball team is headed to the NCAA tournament for the second straight year. The Bulldogs accomplished that task after beating Nevada 56-49 on Saturday afternoon in the WAC tournament championship game. The Bulldogs are 24-8, and tied the school record for most wins in school history and they became the first team to repeat as tournament champions since Louisiana Tech did it in 2003 and 2004.
"This team has great poise and confidence," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said. "They are selfless and really share the ball. They really don't care who gets the credit and they have fun. It is fun to see our team continue to have that personality."
Jaleesa Ross became the first player in WAC history to be named tournament MVP in back-to-back years. In the three tournament games she averaged 18.7 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 44 percent from the field and 46 percent from the 3-point line. Ross also came up with 10 steals in the three games.
Ross also became the schools' single-season 3-point leader with her four 3-pointers on Saturday. She now has hit 93 3-pointers, breaking the previous record of 89, set by Ross last year and Lindsay Logan back in 2000-01.
"It's a great award for me," Ross said. "But our team just played real hard. We worked so hard to get this championship. It feels a lot better than last year."
This year's title team played its best week of defense during the tournament. In the three games the Bulldogs allowed only 51 points a game and held opponents to 34 percent shooting from the field.
"We gave a great defensive effort all weekend," Wiggins said." Sometimes that gets overlooked. I think this is the best week of defense we have played starting with New Mexico State. The last five or six games at home we have had great effort, holding our opponents in the low 50's and their shooting percentages have been in the 30's or 20's."
That defensive effort was as prevalent as ever as the Wolf Pack was held to 49 points on 38 percent shooting from the field. Fresno State forced 16 Nevada turnovers and they came up with seven steals, three coming from Ross.
"This team likes to play defense now," Wiggins said." I don't know that they did at the start of the year. This was the biggest transformation out of any team I have coached so far as being not real good at something to now they are pretty good at it. That has been fun."
The Bulldogs shot 31 percent from the floor for the game and they were led by Ross' 22 points, nine rebounds and three steals in 40 minutes of play. Joh-Teena Filipe had 12 points and a career-high 14 rebounds and she was also named to the WAC All-Tournament team.
Fresno State out rebounded Nevada 51-34 and had 26 offensive rebounds. Marnique Arnold had nine points and 10 rebounds. Hayley Munro had three points and eight rebounds.
It took a late run by the Bulldogs for the third straight game to allow Fresno State to earn the title. With 5:08 to play in the game the score was tied at 47. Ross then scored the next five points to give the Bulldogs a 52-47 lead with 2:08 left in the game.
Nevada scored a bucket with 1:42 remaining to come within three but LaShay Fears hit a jumper with 1:12 to play and Ross added two free throws with 30 seconds left to seal the victory for Fresno State.
Fresno State led 31-20 at halftime despite shooting only 28 percent from the field.
"Join the State - Fresno State" Stay tuned to gobulldogs.com for up to date information on the Bulldogs run to the NCAA tournament.
