Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Nevada
Bulldogs are WAC Champions
2/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2010
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State women's basketball team is once again WAC regular season champions. The Bulldogs earned the championship by rallying past second-place Nevada 69-58 in front of a season-high crowd of 4,069 people at the Save Mart Center. The Bulldogs are now 22-5, 13-0 in WAC and have won 14 straight games.
"It feels great," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said on his team winning another WAC championship. "It is why they come here. It is a wonderful accomplishment. We are proud of it. We say it every day at practice and verbalize before we leave. To be at this point brings a lot of enthusiasm for the next goal."
Rosie Moult led Fresno State in scoring 17 points, with 14 coming in the second half. She spent a majority of the game guarding the Wolf Pack's leading scorer Tahnee Robinson and she was held to only five points for the game.
"She was equally as good defensively," Wiggins said. "In our last six or seven games her numbers have been like this every night. She guarded their number one and I think she did a pretty good job."
Hayley Munro had 15 and Jaleesa Ross 12 points to round out the Bulldog scorers in double figures.
Fresno State trailed 38-26 at halftime and 46-31 with 16:55 left in the game. The Bulldogs then went on a 31-4 run to take a 62-50 lead with 3:55 left in the game following a basket by Moult.
"I am very proud of the players," Wiggins said. "They really overcame a lot of adversity in trying to play better. We weren't playing well early. Credit to Nevada, they played hard and were physical. They came right after us. Thankfully we had a lot of good leadership and a lot of desire. You saw an increased effort on a lot of little things like rebounding and defending. It made all the difference in the game."
Freno State outscored Nevada 43-20 in the second half to earn the win. The team's ability to rebound and play defense was credited for the second half rally.
"What you saw in the second half was a more concentrated effort in the second half on the defensive end," Wiggins said. "We were stingier and we started taking shots going to the rim. We had a lot of three-point plays the old fashion way and that made a huge difference in allowing us to hit some 3-point shots later in the game."
Saturday was also Pink Night as the team wore pink warm up shirts, shoe laces and head bands in honor of breast cancer awareness.
"It is an honor for us to play on Think Pink Night," Wiggins said. "It has been an amazing event and we all have family members or friends who have suffered from cancer. So it is cool to support it and be a part of this event."
"We Are Your Team"- Fresno State returns to the road for a two-game road trip at Louisiana Tech and Boise State next week. The Bulldogs play at Louisiana Tech, Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 5 p.m. That came can be heard live on 790 ESPN Radio. On Saturday, Feb. 27, the Bulldogs play at Boise State at 6 p.m.
