Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
New Mexico State
Bulldogs Earn Win No. 20 Against NMSU
2/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State women's basketball team earned its 20th win for the fifth time in six seasons after beating New Mexico State 71-60 on Saturday night at the Save Mart Center. The Bulldogs have won 12 straight games and are 20-5 overall and 11-0 in WAC play, three games ahead of second place Nevada. Fresno State is off to its best start in school history. New Mexico State dropped to 16-9 and 6-5 in conference play.
"Twenty wins is nice but we have important games left," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said. "We are not guaranteed anything right now. It will be great come tournament time because we are getting everyone's best right now and teams that are playing very hard. We have to step up and be ready mentally every night. If we can make it through that mental challenge it will really help us come (WAC) tournament time if we are fortunate enough to play three games."
Fresno State was led by 23 points from Jaleesa Ross, who played all 40 minutes in the win. She also had eight rebounds. Hayley Munro had 14 points, Rosie Moult had 13 points and seven rebounds and Taja Edwards had 11 points and six rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.
Fresno State shot 40 percent for the game and held the Aggies to 34.5 percent shooting from the field. The Bulldogs out rebounded New Mexico State 46-36. Joh-Teena Filipe also had eight rebounds in the victory.
Overall it was a great effort and we really played well together," Wiggins said.
"You saw good rebounding and another good defensive effort. I thought the pace of our defense is what helped create things tonight."
The game was close the entire contest as the Bulldogs biggest lead of the game was 14 points less than a minute into the second half. New Mexico State never led but did get within one point midway through the final period.
"I knew we were going to face a tough New Mexico State team." Wiggins said. "They have good players, run their stuff very well and it was a situation where we couldn't quite break it open."
Midway through the first half the Bulldogs led 25-16 with 9:57 left in the period after a jumper by Ross. But the Dogs scored only four points in the final 10 minutes but still led 29-19 at the break.
"I felt like we didn't get into our early offense enough and did not take advantage of some good defensive stops," Wiggins said. "There were a lot of fouls on both sides so the play kept getting stopped so we couldn't get that constant flow going. We just have to work on moving our feet a little better and not fouling."
Fresno State opened up a 35-21 lead at the 19:16 mark of the second half after back-to-back 3-pointers by Moult. New Mexico State then went on a 19-5 run to come within one point at 40-39 at the 14:04 mark of the final half.
New Mexico State would get no closer ad three minutes later Fresno State extended its lead to 49-41 after two free throws by Filipe with 11:02 remaining. New Mexico State cut its deficit to four at 52-48 with 5:06 left.
Edwards then scored five straight points to up the Dog lead to 57-49 with 3:47 left in the game.
"I thought we were getting fresher as the game went on and the clock wasn't stopping," Wiggins said. "If it was it was in our favor. That gave us a lot more positive energy. We were able to step up and shoot free throws which gave us a little better momentum. We got to the free throw line. When you get there and make shots you can build a lead quickly."
"We Are Your Team"- The Bulldogs return to the floor on Wednesday for a 4 p.m. contest at Utah State. The game can be heard live on 790 ESPN Radio.
