Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
8-5
USC
8-3
USC Outlasts Fresno State
12/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. -- - The Fresno State women's basketball team put itself in position to nab an all-important signature win Wednesday night, but as head coach Adrian Wiggins put it, "Man, we just missed it."
Behind some lights-out shooting from senior guard Jaleesa Ross, the Bulldogs had a chance to knock off USC but couldn't quite finish the job, falling 82-78 at the Save Mart Center. Ross finished with a season-high 29 points and matched a career-high with seven 3-pointers. What's more, she also moved into second place on the Fresno State all-time scoring list.
Ross now has 1,665 career points and needs just 114 more to pass Yvette Roberts for all-time bragging rights.
"We did a lot of things to win that basketball game," Wiggins said. "We need to keep that in perspective. We played a good basketball game; now, we just need to learn how to win."
The Bulldogs (8-5), who have one game remaining before the start of WAC play, trailed by eight points with 3:50 to play. Still, that was plenty of time to mount a comeback. Freshman guard Taylor Thompson and senior forward Hayley Munro hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers to give Fresno State a chance. Munro's long-distance jumper cut the deficit to 81-78 with 3.2 seconds left, but the Bulldogs could get no closer.
USC repeatedly came through from the charity stripe to secure the win. The Trojans (8-3) were 7-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final 35.7 seconds of the game. Shooting guard Jacki Gemelos, a former McDonald's All-American and the top recruit in the nation prior to coming to USC, paced the Trojans with 27 points. She was 11-for-14 from the floor and connected on five 3-pointers.
The loss tempered what was a spectacular night for Ross, who just missed beating the 33-point night she recorded against Boston College last year. Ross was 11-for-21 from the floor against USC and 7-for-12 from 3-point range, despite the Trojans' effort to stop her with a box-and-1 defense. Indeed, she set the stage for the Bulldogs' hot start.
Fresno State hit its first four shots from the floor and outscored the Trojans 11-2 in the first four minutes of the game. Ross scored 11 quick points and in doing so moved into second place on Fresno State's scoring list with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with 14:03 to play in the half. Ross made three of her first four 3-point attempts and accounted for 14 of Fresno State's first 22 points.
"What I'm most proud of was when they tried to stop her, she found ways to score," Wiggins said of Ross. "She became a dynamic, hard-to-guard player. This was a game she needed to have."
Ross was one of four players to finish in double figures, as Thompson and Marnique Arnold added 11 points apiece and Munro finished with 10.
"It's a game we could've won," Ross said. "We don't want to take anything away from USC, but there are areas we could get better in that would've brought us the victory."
"We Are Your Team!" - Please note Monday night's nonconference game against UC Riverside will now start at 5:30 p.m.
