Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
13-4, 1-0WAC
Nevada
4-12, 0-1WAC
`Dogs End Perfect in WAC Openers
1/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2012
FRESNO, Calif. - It was a historic afternoon for Fresno State's Adrian Wiggins on Saturday as he won his 200th game as a head coach. He also led the Bulldog women's basketball team to a victory in its first Western Athletic Conference game of the season.
The `Dogs defeated Nevada 85-67 and have a perfect 7-0 record in WAC openers under Wiggins. Fresno State improves to 13-4 on the season and 1-0 in WAC.
"It was great to get started with conference play today," said Wiggins. "To come out and play well on opening night was a big thing. I like where our team is at now. I was pleased with our effort."
The Bulldogs bench provided a scoring spark outscoring the Wolf Pack bench 45-19, which is the most points scored by the bench in a game this season. The `Dogs had four score in double digits and three of them came off the bench.
Senior Veronica Wilson led the team with a career-high 18 points. Wilson scored 12 points in the second half.
"Veronica was really great on the perimeter," said Wiggins. "She was very efficient tonight for us and hit some timely shots. That's what is nice about this group, any of them can hit timely shots."
Freshman Madison Parrish added 13 points, while sophomore Bree Farley scored 14 points. Preseason All-WAC selection Taylor Thompson contributed 11 points. Farley, Parrish and Wilson together are averaging 21.8 points per game of the bench.
The `Dogs out rebounded Nevada 40-33 and Ki-Ki Moore recorded a team-high 12 rebounds. Moore and Alex Sheedy recorded five offensive rebounds each.
"I was most pleased with our offensive rebounding," said Wiggins. "We had 19 offensive rebounds and we set a goal to have 16 or more a game. So I was very pleased with that."
Fresno State defensive forced 14 turnovers and recorded nine steals. Opened the game with an 11-3 run in the first four minutes of the game. Nevada cut the `Dogs lead to three as Fresno State led 11-8 with 15:07 left in the half.
At the 12 minute mark, the Wolf Pack took their first lead of the game over the Bulldogs. Fresno State answered with Farley draining a 3-pointer from the right side of the arc to regain the lead.
Thompson hit a trey to put the `Dogs ahead by 10 points with 3:45 left to play in the first half. The Bulldogs ended the half with 9-4 run and headed to the locker room with a 42-31 lead over Nevada at halftime.
Parrish led all scorers at half time with 10 points. Moore led the team with eight first half rebounds and three assists. The Bulldogs shot 50 percent from beyond the arc in the first half making 8-of-16 treys.
Thompson sank a 3-pointer from the corner of the arc to start a 7-0 run as the `Dogs lead grew to 57-42 over Nevada with 14:02 left in the game. An 11-4 run put the `Dogs ahead of Nevada by as many as 20 points with 10:39 left on the clock.
Wilson was on fire in the second half shooting 66 percent from the field including making three from 3-point range.
The Bulldogs continue WAC play next week on the road against Utah State on Jan. 19 and Idaho on Jan. 21.
"We have a lot of games left to play, so we have to stay focused and take it game-by-game," said Wiggins. "We need to put our best foot forward every night and I was proud of our effort today."
"We Are Your Team!" The Bulldogs hit the road next week for their first WAC road trip against Utah State on Jan. 19 at 6:00 p.m. PT. The `Dogs finish the road trip at Idaho on Jan. 21 at 5:30 p.m. PT. For more information on tickets call 278-DOGS.
