Fresno State Athletics
Fresno State Opens Season at UC Riverside
11/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Josh Mitchell
jomitchell@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State opens the 2015-16 season Friday night as the squad heads to UC Riverside to take on the Highlanders. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m., PT.
Game Info
Game #1 • Nov. 13, 2015 Fresno State (0-0) at UC Riverside (0-0)
4 p.m. PT • SRC Arena (3,168) • Fresno Calif.
Live Stats: gohighlanders.com
Series: Record: Bulldogs lead 11-1
Last Meeting: Fresno State won 73-61 on Dec. 4, 2015
Bulldog Bites
• Jaime White enters her second season at the helm of the Bulldog program. The 10th head coach in program history, White led the 'Dogs to her 23-10 record in her first year. It was the Bulldogs' seventh straight 20-plus win season.
• White is joined by assistant coaches Mandi Carver, Keith Ferguson and Laura Dinkins, along with director of operations Tom Perkins and graduate assistant Erik DeRoo.
• The Bulldogs will be seeking their ninth consecutive postseason appearance this year after reaching the Women's National Invitational Tournament last spring. Their 79-73 win on March 19, 2015 over San Francisco in the first round of the WNIT was Fresno State's first postseason win over a non-conference team since 2006.
• Fresno State will host 15 games during the 2015-16 season. During the last five seasons, the 'Dogs have lost only eight games in front of their home crowd.
• The Bulldogs will play its first 10 games of the year in the state of California. They posted a 16-4 record last year in their home state.
• Under White, defense was the team's staple as Fresno State finished the 2014-15 season as the only team in the Mountain West to rank in the top two in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense, 3-point percentage defense, blocks and steals.
• Fresno State returns seven letterwinners from the 2014-15 squad. Joining a group of five seniors this year will be seven newcomers.
• Captaining the 2015-16 'Dogs will be seniors Alex Furr and Toni Smith. Furr returns for a sixth season after averaging 7.8 points per game last year while shooting 34.8 percent from 3 last year. Smith will look to build on a strong conference season last year when she recorded 12 double-digit scoring performances.
• Key players also back are point guard Shauqunna Collins, who finished last year fourth in the Mountain West in steals, and center Bego Faz Davalos, who finished with last season with 96 blocks.
• Not having a player on the league's All-Freshman Team the previous two seasons after having someone on the squad during the team's final three seasons in the Western Athletic Conference, Faz Davalos became the first 'Dog to earn MW All-Freshman honors. She broke three single-season conference block records.
• Fresno State was selected to finish in fourth place in the 2015-16 Mountain West Women's Basketball Preseason Poll. The Bulldogs received 182 points in the preseason poll, which selected Colorado State as the preseason favorite with 12 first-place votes followed by New Mexico (seven first-place votes) and Boise State (six first-place votes). The voting panel consisted of the league's 11 head coaches and select women's basketball media from around the Conference.
Series History with UC Riverside
• Fresno State leads the all-time series with UC Riverside 11-1, with 'Dogs lone loss coming during the 1972-73 season.
• The two teams have met three times since 2011.
• The Bulldogs won the most recent contest in Riverside, Calif., 67-62.
• The two teams met last year on Dec. 4, 2014 in Fresno, Calif., as the 'Dogs handed the Highlanders their first loss of the season, 73-61.
A Look at UC Riverside
• The Highlanders were picked to finish second in the Big West behind Hawai'i.
• UCR is led by senior guard Brittany Crain who was one of the nation's leading scorers in 2014-15 at 21.7 points per game.
• The Highlanders return seven letterwinners from last season, including four of five starters.
• Each of the three UCR players which scored in double-figures in last year's matchup are back in 2015; Annelise Ito (14), Simone DeCoud (14) and Brittany Crain (10).
•UC Riverside won its two exhibition games, 86-51 over Cal Poly Pamona, and 85-74 over Cal Baptist.
Opening Up Against the State of California
• Dating back to the 1996-97 season, Fresno State is 8-3 when opening up the season against teams in the state of California.
• The only three losses have come against current Pac-12 school (Cal, Stanford, USC), two of which were ranked in the Top 25 at the time.
"Be Bold" - The official home of the Fresno State women's basketball team is ESPN2 790 AM.
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