Thursday, Jan. 31 WAC Women’s Recaps
Fresno State 81, Nevada 49
Box Score
FRESNO, Calif. - In a battle of the top two teams in the WAC, the Fresno State women's basketball team played its best game of the season as they beat the University of Nevada 81-49 on Thursday at the Save Mart Center.
The win ups Fresno State's record to 12-9 overall and 7-1 in WAC play and keeps them atop first place in the conference while Nevada dropped to 14-6 and 5-2.
"It was an excellent effort by our players," Fresno State coach Adrian Wiggins said. "In my opinion it was probably our most complete game. Our seniors were very focused tonight which made our team very focused. We had a great commitment on both ends of the floor. We shared the ball and defended really well. I was very proud of our effort. I thought we played a very good basketball game.”
The Dogs had four players score in double figures led by 15 points from Jaleesa Ross and Tierre Wilson. Bailey Amundsen had 11 points off the bench while Erica Henry had 10 points. Wilson had a season high 10 rebounds to go along with six assists and four steals. Hayley Munro and Erica Henry each had seven rebounds. The Bulldogs out rebounded Nevada 48-30.
Fresno State shot 47.8 percent from the field and held Nevada to 35 percent shooting and forced them into 22 turnovers. The 49 points scored by Nevada was the fewest the Bulldogs have given up this season.
Nevada did not have a single player score in double figures. Dellena Criner, the WAC's leading scorer at 17.8 points a game overall and 21.5 points a game in WAC contests, was held to eight points on two of six shooting from the field.
"Tierre's assignment was to guard her and I felt she did a really wonderful job," Wiggins said. "She stayed in her stance and did not try and do too much. She just covered her. Tierre is very quick and very strong and she played very smart tonight."
After Nevada scored the opening basket, Fresno State jumped out to a 13-2 lead four minutes into the game following a layup by Wilson. The Bulldogs led 23-14 with 7:37 to play until halftime and extended their lead to 38-24 at halftime.
Fresno State continued its pressure in the second half as they built a 53-34 lead with 13:26 left in the game. The final score of 81-49 was the biggest lead for the Dogs.
Fresno State hits the road for a Monday night contest at Louisiana Tech. Tipoff is at 5 p.m. and the game can be heard live on 790 ESPN Radio, the Deuce.
New Mexico State 71, Hawai?i 53
LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State women’s basketball team came up with its largest margin of victory for the season as they beat Hawai’i 71-53, at the Pan American Center on Thursday.
The NMSU bench played exceptional as they outscored the UH bench 37-15. Senior Irma Kmitiate-Smith (Sirvintos, Lithuania) led all players with 17 points as she came off the bench going 5-of-8 from the field, 4-of-6 from 3-point land and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. Head coach Darin Spence was happy with the way his team bounced back from a loss and how his senior shooter stepped up.
“I thought tonight was our biggest game of the year, because we were bouncing off a three-game road swing and a tough emotional loss,” Spence said. “Irma did well tonight giving herself a chance to get shots off, and Monique also came off the bench and played really well.”
In the game, the Aggies forced 21 UH turnovers and scored 22 points off those turnovers. Although UH outscored the Aggies in the paint, NMSU had a better field goal percentage. UH leads the conference on the boards, but the Aggies kept it close as they pulled down 42 rebounds and UH had 43. Senior Anikia Jawara (Atlanta, Ga.) led the way for NMSU on the boards with seven rebounds. She also added 15 points on seven field goals.
UH got out to an early 6-2 lead, but the Aggies wouldn’t let that lead last long as they went on a 7-2 run with Jawara leading the way. She tied up the game at 8-8 with a short range field goal, then was elbowed in the face by a Wahine player who was called for an intentional. Jawara made one of two free throws.
With 11:22 left in the half, Kmitaite-Smith hit a three and followed it with another trey at 10:19 to give NMSU a 17-14 lead. Neither team would score until the 6:41 mark when UH made a lay-up to get within one of the Aggies. That forced coach Spence to call a timeout and talk things out with his team.
NMSU got out of their scoring drought when Kmitaite-Smith hit her third 3-pointer of the half to take a 20-16 with 4:47 left. She was 3-of-5 to this point.
Monique Bribiescas (Gilbert, Ariz.) hit a three from the corner to take a 27-21 lead with 1:14 left in the half, but UH answered right back with a three of their own to cut the lead to 27-23 to go into the locker room at the half.
NMSU hit four 3-pointers compared to the Rainbow Wahine’s two. The Aggies were also able to force nine UH turnovers and scored five points off those turnovers in the first half. Kmitaite-Smith led all scorers with 11 points as she shot an outstanding 4-of-7 from the field. NMSU worked hard on the boards, but the Rainbow Wahine height showed as the Aggies were out-rebounded 27-24 in the first 20 minutes of play.
Madison Spence scored the first field goal of the second half, which was followed by a Niki Holt (Tulia, Texas) 3-pointer. It was her second 3-pointer of the season. When Jawara came up with her third field goal of the game, the Aggies went up by 10 taking a 34-24 lead.
NMSU continued an 8-5 scoring run and went up 42-31 with 13:40 left in the half. After two free throws from Kmitaite-Smith and a three from Bribiescas, NMSU took the largest lead of the game at 47-32. Bribiescas hit her third trey of the game with 11:34 left in the game and put the Aggies up 50-34.
With those two 3-pointers by Bribiescas, she moved into sixth on the all-time 3-pointers made list with 120.
As UH went on a 5-0 run to take the score to 54-43, Jawara hit an eight-foot jump shot to put her team ahead 56-43 at 7:53. Kmitaite-Smith brought a roar from the crowd as she was fouled and made her ensuing free throw for the four-point play. The Aggies were now up 62-44.
Freshman Danisha Corbett (San Diego, Calif.) scored her first points of the game with 3:32 left and gave NMSU a 68-51 lead. Freshman forward Erica Sanchez (Chula Vista, Calif.) scored her first points of the season as she hit a 10-foot jumper to extended the lead to 70-51 with 1:17 left.
The Aggies play at home again Saturday, Feb. 2 when they host San Jose State at the Pan American Center. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. (MST) and can be caught locally on the radio at KSNM AM 570. Fans can also follow along with live stats on the internet at www.nmstatesports.com.
Boise State 78, San Jose State 51
Box Score
San Jose, Calif.?Christine Martin scored a career-best 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, but San Jose State lost to Boise State, 78-51, Thursday evening at The Event Center.
Martin made 3-of-5 three-point field goal attempts and was a perfect 2-for-2 from the free throw line. She added three rebounds and an assist in 33 minutes played.
“Christine stepped up her game tonight for us,” said San Jose State head coach Pam DeCosta. “She works hard in practices and in games. She made open shots for us.”
The Spartans (2-18, 1-6) were no match for the defending Western Athletic Conference champions Thursday night. Boise State (14-6, 5-2) outrebounded San Jose State, 45-27, and shot 48.1 percent from the field. The Broncos added 10 blocked shots including three by Sierra Moeller.
“We were outmatched tonight by a very good Boise State team,” said DeCosta. “They took away our top scoring threat (White) and our top attacker (Barnes). We have to have other players step up and take the open shots when the opportunity is there.”
All nine Boise State players scored in the game and four players scored in double-figures. Jenna Galassi led the Broncos with 16 points, followed by Tahsa Harris and Jessica Thompson with 13 points each. Ja’Lara Walker added 10 points for the team.
Boise State jumped out to an early 12-0 lead and held San Jose State scoreless for over four minutes to begin the game. The Spartans got as close as four points twice at 21-17 and 23-19, but could get no closer the rest of the game.
Others contributing for the Spartans included Natalie White who scored 12 points in 38 minutes of action. She had five rebounds, two assists, a blocked shot and a steal. Brittany Powell led the team in rebounding with seven and had two points and two steals. Alisha Hicks added seven points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists.