Fresno State 69, Boise State 61
Tierre Wilson and Erica Henry both finished the game with a double-double as Fresno State defeated Boise State 69-61 on Saturday. Coming off a very short turnaround returning from Hawai'i, Fresno State nevertheless looked very sharp in handing the Broncos only their second loss in league competition. Wilson led the Bulldogs with 16 points, and Henry and Chantella Perera each added 12.
Equally as impressive as the point totals were the rebounding numbers, where Fresno State had a +12 rebounding margin of 53-41, led by 12 each from Wilson and Henry. In addition, 9 of Henry's 12 rebounds were on the offensive end, helping Fresno State to their 16 second chance points on the night. The Bulldogs also finished the night with 23 made free throws, taking advantage of 28 Boise State fouls.
Turning around a recent trend, Fresno State was able to grab an early lead at 6-4, and after Boise State moved ahead 9-8, an Andrea Roberson layup gave the Bulldogs a lead that they would never surrender. Starting with the Roberson layup, the Bulldogs scored seven unanswered points, capped by a Wilson three to take a 15-9 lead with 14:23 in the first half.
From there, Fresno State held onto the lead, as Boise State made a run to cut the advantage back to one at 18-17, but Henry converted a three-point play and Kendra Walker-Roche hit a three-pointer to move the lead back up to 7. That was followed by strong offensive rebounding from the Bulldogs, who put together a four-point trip to their end of the floor as Jenny Thigpin missed the back end of two 1-and-1 free throw tries, but recovered the first herself for a foul and a second journey to the line and Henry put back the second as the Bulldogs stopped another run on the way to a nine-point halftime lead at 38-29.
With no team coming out of the half with a strong move, the Bulldogs held their nine-point lead through the first four minutes, but a three from Boise State's Jackie Lee helped spark the first of two Boise State runs at Fresno State in the second half. However, Wilson came through with a jumper to stop the run, and Andrea Roberson's three opened the lead back to nine points. Boise State continued to come close, and would cut the lead all the way to one as Michelle Hessing scored five straight points at the 6:33 mark, part of her 15 on the night.
Coming out of that run Paige Diggs scored four unanswered points, two at the line and two in the paint to help Fresno State regain their lead, and hold it despite the third of Bridgette Reyes' three pointers. Fresno State hit Perera on a backdoor cut though, and after a key block by Roberson the Bulldogs finished the game on the line, where Henry hit two and Perera hit 8 down the stretch to close out the win.
Louisiana Tech 78, Idaho 71
Ty Moore’s lay-up with 0:31 to play in the game sealed a 78-71 victory for Louisiana Tech over Idaho Saturday night at the Thomas Assembly Center before 2,549 fans.
After Idaho cut a 14-point second half deficit down to three at 74-71 on a Charlotte Otero lay-up with 00:57 to play, Shan Moore drove the lane with the shot clock running down and found Ty Moore for the lay-up and a five-point lead.
Two Shan Moore free throws with 00:09 to play sealed the victory as Tech (15-11, 10-3 WAC) pulled to within one game of Western Athletic Conference leading Boise State, which fell 69-61 at Fresno State earlier in the day.
Despite the victory by Tech, head coach Chris Long was not satisfied in his team’s effort.
Tech lead 44-32 at the half as the Lady Techsters used a dominating post performance by Ty Moore, Tamika Kursh, Jo Sneed and Shanavia Dowdell to pull out to the lead.
The Lady Techsters increased that lead to 50-36 with 16:09 to play on a jumper by Tamika Kursh and looked like they were ready to put the game away. However, Idaho would not simply go away.
Behind the outside shooting of Lindsey Koppen, Sara Dennehy and Liz Witte, the Vandals (5-19, 2-11) hit 7-of-18 three-pointers in the second half and slowly whittled the deficit away.
Back to back three-pointers by Koppen and Dennehy with 8:19 to play pulled Idaho to within 61-57 before Tech used an 11-5 run over the next four minutes to extend the advantage back out to 10.
However, Otero scored five points in a 15 second stretch to cut the Tech lead to one possession, setting up the critical offensive possession that Moore capitalized on to seal the win.
Tech outrebounded Idaho 55-28 but 21 turnovers, including 13 in the second half, kept Idaho close.
Nevada 70, San Jose State 52
Dellena Criner scored a game-high 18 points and Nevada ended a four-game skid with a 70-52 win at San Jose State at The Event Center on Saturday.Nevada improved to 13-12 overall and 7-5 in Western Athletic Conference play while San Jose State dropped to 3-24 overall and 2-11 in the WAC.
Criner led three Nevada player sin double figures as Jessica Preslar poured in a season-high 16 points, a total matched by fellow senior Traci Graham. The teams went back and forth for much of the first half before the Wolf Pack pulled away for a 14-point halftime lead. Nevada pushed the lead to as many as 21 points before settling for the 18-point victory.
Nevada’s defensive pressure forced 29 turnovers and scored 32 points off of those turnovers. The Wolf Pack recorded 15 steals with Criner notching a career-high seven on the night. Criner also had eight rebounds and was just two boards and three steals away from a triple-double.
The win gives Nevada the season sweep over the Spartans for the first time since the 1995-96 season when both schools were in the Big West. The win was just Nevada’s third all-time at San Jose State and was the first victory in San Jose by Nevada coach Kim Gervasoni, a Bay Area native.
Nevada will return home for a three-game homestand starting Thursday against Idaho. On Saturday, Boise State will come to town for Girls and Women in Sports Day on Feb. 24. The homestand will conclude on March 1 with Senior Night against Utah State.