Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State
Notre Dame De Namur
`Dogs Roll in Exhibition Over NDNU, 89-33
11/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Josh Mitchell
jomitchell@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - The Fresno State women's basketball cruised to a 89-33 win over Notre Dame De Namur in the team's lone exhibition game, Sunday afternoon at the Save Mart Center, in head coach Jaime White's first game at the helm of the Bulldog program.
Senior forward Alex Sheedy paced a group of four Bulldogs, who each scored in double figures. The native of Moe, Australia, poured in 13 points to go along with a seven rebounds. Just behind her in the scoring column was junior guard Brittany Aikens with 12 points, senior guard Raven Fox with 11 points and a game-high seven assists. Junior center Toni Smith also added 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting along with grabbing eight rebounds.
"It's good to have that one under and done," White said. "I felt good about how our kids played and how they came out in the first half. Coaches are funny, they always would like more but I thought we could have done a little bit better on the boards, finishing transitions and some of the turn overs but overall we did very well. We saw some of our inside stuff and were able to run a lot of our stuff and knock down some outside shots. Maybe it was just first game jitters but little things we could work on are free throws, rebounding, little bit more pressure on defense.
" "You never know how everybody is going to react to that first home game," White added. We tried to have no surprises as much as possible as far as knowing where to go and what to do so it was nice to see some of those new incoming kids and some of those who haven't played as much come off of the bench. I was happy for them and overall I felt good about the performance."
After an early 3-2 deficit, the Bulldogs began to seize control on both ends, storming out to a 32-9 lead, holding the Argonauts without a field goal for more than 11 minutes. The stretch was started by seven points from Sheedy and a pair free throws at the line from senior guard Robin Draper.
A free throw from NDNU's Kristen Liana with 13:45 in the half was the last points for the Argonauts over the next three-plus minutes as the Bulldogs opened up the game with a 17-0 run. With 13:38 on the clock, Shauqunna Collins pulled off an and-one to extend the lead to 14-6. On the next possessions, redshirt freshman Bego Faz Davalos had back-to-back layups just before consecutive 3-pointers from Aikens that pushed the lead to 24-6.
With 3:02 remaining in the half, a 3-pointer from Liana cut Fresno State's lead to 15 at 34-19, but a 17-0 run over of the next seven minutes that extended into the second half increased the lead 51-19.
Just as the Argonauts were able to pick up seven points within a two minute span midway through the second half, the pressure from the Bulldogs continued. The team forced one turnover after another resulting in a 21-2 run during a six-minute span.
Fresno State closed out the game with four consecutive layups coming from Smith and Stephanie Rovetti to give the team the 89-33 win.
For the game, the Bulldogs shot 35-of-75 (46.7 percent) from the field, while stifling the Argonauts' offense as they shot a mere 15.7 percent (8-51), with no player reaching double figures. Aiding in Fresno State's offense was its defense which forced NDNU into 26 turnovers resulting in 41 points.
Collins led that defensive effort, leading the team with five steals, while Rovetti and Aikens each chipped in three as the team totaled 18 on the afternoon. On the glass, Davalos grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
In all, 12 Bulldogs saw the court in the contest with 45 of the team's 89 points coming from its bench. Only three players, Collins, Fox and senior Alex Furr, played more than 20 minutes.
Fresno State opens the regular season Nov. 16 as the squad hosts Cal Poly. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., PT, at the Save Mart Center.
"Be Bold" - ESPN2 790 AM is the home of the Fresno State women's basketball team.
