Fresno State Athletics
'Dogs Host Fresno Pacific in Home Opener
11/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Josh Mitchell
jomitchell@csufresno.edu
GoBulldogs.com
FRESNO, Calif. - Fresno State opens its 2015-16 home slate on Tuesday night as the squad welcomes Fresno Pacific to the Save Mart Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m., PT and will air on the Mountain West Network. Christian Lukens will be on the call for ESPN2 790 AM. Season ticket holders who bring a non-season ticket holder with them will get their friend free admission into the game.
Game Info
Fresno State (0-1) vs. Fresno Pacific (0-2)
7 p.m. PT • Save Mart Center (15,596) • Fresno Calif.
Video: Mountain West Network • Radio: ESPN2 790 AM • Live Stats: gobulldogs.com
Bulldog Bites
• With an 86-68 defeat at UC Riverside, Fresno State dropped its season opener for the first time since 2012.
• The Bulldogs allowed 80-plus points only twice last season, going 1-1 in those games.
• The 'Dogs shot just 35.5 percent against the Highlanders. Seven of the team's 10 losses during the 2014-15 season came when they shot below 40 percent from the field.
• Fresno State was 7-7 on the road during the 2014-15 season.
• Four Bulldogs scored in doubles figures (Alex Furr, Shauqunna Collins, Moriah Faulk and Toni Smith), a feat that only happened five times last year.
• Fresno State has won its last three home openers, and eight of its last 10.
• 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 Fresno Pacific
• Fresno State and Fresno Pacific have only met once.
• The Bulldogs won the only meeting 76-52 on Nov. 27, 1995.
A Look at Fresno Pacific
• The Sunbirds are 0-2 on the year after falling to Western Washington and Seattle Pacific.
• FPU has been outscored 186-94.
• Megan Lee leads the team with an average of 8.5 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
Balanced Scoring
• During the 2014-15 season, Fresno State had at least four players score in double digits just five times. The Bulldogs had four players in score in double figures in the season opener at UCR Riverside.
• Alex Furr led the team with 15 points, while Shauqunna Collins had 14, Moriah Faulk had 11 and Toni Smith had 10.
Opening Up Against the State of California
• Dating back to the 1996-97 season, Fresno State is 8-4 when opening up the season against teams in the state of California.
• Three of the four losses have come against current Pac-12 schools (Cal, Stanford, USC), two of which were ranked in the Top 25 at the time.
'Dogs One of California's Best
• The Fresno State women's basketball team remains one of the top Division I programs in the state of California after eight consecutive 22-win seasons.
• In the last six years, the Bulldogs have amassed 149 wins which ranks second out of the 24 schools in California.
• Over the last six years, Fresno State (149 wins) has more victories than Pac-12 schools like California (145), UCLA (125) and USC (109).
• The Bulldogs' six-year win total is only behind Stanford's 196 among California schools.
"Be Bold" - The official home of the Fresno State women's basketball team is ESPN2 790 AM.
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