Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Idaho
Bulldogs Rally Past Idaho
1/9/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2010
MOSCOW, Idaho - The Fresno State women's basketball team went on a 30-11 run over the final 10 minutes of the game to beat Idaho 72-64 on Saturday afternoon at the Cowan Spectrum. The win ups the Bulldogs record to 11-5 and 2-0 in WAC while Idaho dropped to 2-12 and 0-1 in conference.
"It was a great team effort by the players tonight," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said. "The players took ownership and we let them make their own decisions. They found a way through their effort. We had leaders leading and I didn't say very much to them at all."
The win avenges the two losses the Bulldogs suffered to Idaho last year.
"It is a great win for us tonight because Idaho plays really well against us," Wiggins said. "We defended them hard and they still made a lot of shots tonight. It was a credit to Idaho and their offense. This was a very good win for our program."
Fresno State shot 48 percent from the field and out rebounded Idaho 33-30. The Bulldogs had 15 assists and forced the Vandals into 19 turnovers.
Jaleesa Ross led the Dogs with 15 points, a career-high eight assists to only one turnover to go along with six rebounds in 38 minutes of play. Joh-Teena Filipe had 14 points and a team-best seven rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Hayley Munro 12 points and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the 3-point line off the bench.
For the game there was seven ties and seven lead changes and Idaho led Fresno State 32-30 at halftime but opened the second half strong and built a 53-42 lead with 10:19 left in the game. That is when the Bulldogs went on their run by forcing eight Idaho turnovers in the final 10 minutes and attacking the basket more.
In just under two minutes the Vandal lead was cut to six at 53-47 after a 3-pointer by Munro and a layup by LaShay Fears. Ross then hit two free throws and Munro connected on another 3-pointer to bring Fresno State within one point at 53-52 with 7:37 left in the contest.
The Dogs took a brief lead at 55-53 on a Fears 3-pointer. Idaho then took a 57-55 lead with 6:30 left before Fresno State scored the next eight points to lead 63-57 with 3:39 left in the game after a free throw by Munro.
Idaho got no closer than four points at 63-59 the rest of the way and the Dogs led by as many as 11 with under a minute to play in the game at 72-61.
"We Are Your Team"- Fresno State returns to the floor on Wednesday for a game at New Mexico State. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. and the game can be heard on 790 ESPN Radio.
