Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
7-4
UC Santa Barbara
5-5
Dogs Drop Heartbreaker To UCSB
12/18/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2010
QUEENS, New York - Senior guard Jaleesa Ross continued her climb up the Fresno State women's basketball team's scoring ladder on Saturday, but her individual ascension wasn't enough to stave off the Bulldogs' collective heartache.
Fresno State stormed back from a 13-point deficit but its comeback fell short with a 64-62 loss to UC Santa Barbara at the St. John's Chartwells Holiday Classic. The setback sends the Bulldogs into Sunday's consolation game against Southern Mississippi and robs them of a chance to play another top-25 team. Instead, the Gauchos get a shot at No. 18 St. John's in the championship game.
Ross finished with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting and now sits in third place on the Fresno State scoring list with 1,608 career points. Yvette Roberts holds the top spot with 1,778 points. Senior forward Hayley Munro paced the Bulldogs (7-4) with 16 points and seven rebounds. She was 6-for-8 from the free-throw line.
Despite trailing for most of the afternoon, Fresno State still managed to put itself in a position to notch a win. Ross scored in the paint to pull the Bulldogs within two (64-62) with 39 seconds to go. Fresno State then turned up the heat defensively and had a chance to tie things up when freshman guard Taylor Thompson corralled a rebound off a missed free throw by Santa Barbara's Nicole Nesbit. Still, the Bulldogs couldn't cash in on the late opportunity.
Fresno State came up with the ball once again, this time with 1.1 seconds to play, but Munro's half-court shot fell short. UC Santa Barbara guard Emilie Johnson led all scorers with 21 points. She was 10-for-16 from the floor for the Gauchos (5-5), winners of four in a row.
The Bulldogs ran into an offensive wall in the first half, and that put them in a rather precarious spot for the remainder of the game. They went nearly five minutes without a point and almost 10 minutes without a field goal. Munro scored on a put-back with 10:21 remaining in the first half, but Fresno State's next basket didn't come until Thompson hit a 3-pointer with 21 seconds to go in the first half.
That said, even a 35-25 halftime deficit and 15 first-half turnovers didn't mean the end of the road.
Senior forward Marnique Arnold scored three consecutive buckets, including one on a fastbreak layup, to cut the Gauchos' lead to 45-42 with 12:52 remaining. Munro and Ross followed with big baskets of their own to help tie the game at 47-47.
The Bulldogs took their first lead (54-52) since the 12-minute mark in the first half following a pair of free throws from senior Taja Edwards with 6:59 to play.
"We Are Your Team!" -- Fresno State returns to the Save Mart Center on Dec. 29 for a nonconference game against USC. Central California Blood Center will be in front of the Save Mart Center between 4:30-8:30 p.m. taking blood donations. Donors will receive free admission and a Bulldog T-shirt. Also, Mutts in Motion will be performing at halftime.
