Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
New Mexico State
Bulldogs Take Down NMSU, 77-67
1/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2010
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Fresno State women's basketball team played with great effort and energy for 40 minutes and beat New Mexico State 77-67 on Wednesday evening at the Pan American Center. The win improves the Bulldogs record to 12-5 and 3-0 in WAC while the Aggies dropped to 12-5 and 2-1 in conference.
"I felt like the desire and energy was there tonight," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said. "We had a couple of lapses in execution but it was nothing we didn't recover from, which was a great sign."
Jaleesa Ross played all 40 minutes and scored 18 points, grabbed a team-best nine rebounds to go along with four assists, two steals and two blocks. Hayley Munro had 12 points and five rebounds while LaShay Fears had 10 points and four boards.
"Our leadership was great tonight," Wiggins said. "Jaleesa Ross and LaShay Fears were speaking up and that was great. They were trying to head the ship in the right direction. We have a team that is willing to listen and follow and that is a great sign."
Taja Edwards also played a great game off the bench as she had eight points and six rebounds in 22 minutes of play.
"Her technique was so good tonight," Wiggins said on Edwards play. "She had such a great focus and execution on her technique. She did a great job of being in the right spots at the right time. She got great rebounds and she was a huge boost for us in the first and second halves."
The Bulldogs shot 45 percent from the field and out rebounded New Mexico State 45-34. New Mexico State shot 39 percent from the field.
Fresno State took the lead for good when Munro hit a 3-pointer with 12:01 left in the game to lift the Dogs to a 47-44 lead. Then with the Dogs clinging to a 50-48 lead with 10 minutes to play, Fresno State went on a 13-0 run to take its biggest lead of the game at 63-48 with 5:36 to play.
"Coach Frank had a great game plan," Wiggins said. "We knew them really well and were prepared. As the game went on I thought they did get a little tired and we didn't. For whatever reason I don't know but tonight it worked in our favor."
Over the final five minutes of the game New Mexico State got no closer than eight points.
The score was tied at 31 at halftime as there was two ties and four lead changes in the first half.
"We Are Your Team"-Fresno State returns to the floor on Saturday at 2 p.m. for a home game against Utah State. For ticket information click on the tickets link at the top of the page.
