Nevada 68, Boise State 51 | Stats
RENO, Nev. - The University of Nevada women's basketball team improved to 12-3, 1-1 in the Western Athletic Conference, after defeating Boise State 68-51 in front of 901 Wolf Pack faithful at Lawlor Events Center Saturday.
Nevada had three athletes score in double-digits: senior co-captains Tahnee Robinson and Shavon Moore, and senior Marissa Hammond. Robinson connected for 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in just her second game back with the team. Robinson missed two non-conference games while mourning the loss of her grandfather. Moore recorded 13 points and nine rebounds before fouling out in the fourth-quarter. Hammond was the leading scorer off the bench, with 14 points, connecting on all of her field goal attempts and shooting 80 percent from the line.
As a team, the Pack shot 36.7 percent, hitting 22 of 60 field goals including four three-pointers. Nevada outscored Boise State in the paint 28 to 18, and out-rebounded the Broncos 45 to 34.
Louisiana Tech 74, Hawaii 69 | Stats
HONOLULU - For the third time in six years, Louisiana Tech went to overtime in Honolulu as the Lady Techsters overcame a valiant effort by Hawaii in a 74-69 victory at the Stan Sheriff Center Saturday night.
Tech (10-5, 2-0 WAC) shot only 34 percent (23-67) for the game and was outrebounded 52-35 by the Rainbow Wahine (6-9, 0-2 WAC) but the Lady Techsters connected on 23-of-27 free throws, including all seven in the extra period, to pick up the win.
With the victory, Tech improves to 23-3 all-time against Hawaii including a 13-2 mark in Honolulu.
"We are a long way away from being a team," said Tech head coach Teresa Weatherspoon. "I find it hard to find any good out of this game. The one thing I can say is when we needed to make plays down the stretch we found a way to make them.
"I give Hawaii a lot of credit. They played well. They made things difficult. I take nothing away from their effort. I do find a lot of fault in ours across the board."
Hawaii had multiple opportunities to put the game away, including a golden opportunity with 2.8 seconds to play in regulation. With Tech leading 61-60, Hawaii freshman Kamilah Jackson was fouled and went to the line to shoot two free throws.
However, Jackson misfired on the first attempt before connecting on the second to tie the game at 61-61 and send it into overtime.
In the extra period, Tech took an early 63-61 lead on a layup by guard Martina Holloway, who finished with a career-high 13 points in 27 minutes.
With the game tied at 67-67, senior guard Whitney Jones hit a driving layup with 1:20 to play in the overtime period and then hit a free throw to complete the conventional three-point play and give LA Tech a 70-67 advantage.
After two free throws by Hawaii guard Megan Tinnin with 57 seconds to play, Adrienne Johsnon missed on a contested layup and the Rainbow Wahine corralled the defensive rebound. Following a timeout, Hawaii forward Julita Bungaite missed on an open 18-footer with 17 seconds to play and Jones pulled down the defensive rebound.
Hawaii fouled Holloway with 5.6 seconds to play as the Albuquerque native hit both free throws to up the LA Tech advantage to 72-69.
The Rainbow Wahine had one last chance to tie it up but Tinnin's three-pointer was off the mark and Shantale Bramble-Donaldson pulled down the defensive rebound and was fouled with one-tenth of a second to play to seal the Tech victory.
Jones led Tech with 18 points, including 15 in the second half and overtime, while Johnson added 15 points and nine rebounds. Holloway scored a career-high 13 points, including 6-of-6 at the free throw line, while Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey scored 11 points while playing all 45 minutes.
Jackson led Hawaii with 18 points and 20 rebounds while Keisha Kanekoa added 11 points and Shawna-Lei Kuehu scored 10 points.
New Mexico State 52, San Jose State 46 | Stats
SAN JOSE - The New Mexico State women's basketball team survived a scare from winless San Jose State with a come-from-behind 52-46 win over the Spartans inside the SJSU Events Center Saturday night.
NM State struggled to stop San Jose State junior guard Sara Plavljanin who tripled her scoring average for the season with a career- and game-high 28 points, accounting for 61 percent of the Spartans' points in the game. Plavljanin was 5-of-6 from behind the arc in the contest.
After trailing by seven at the half, the Aggies regained the lead at 36-33 behind the scoring of their three senior guards: Madison Spence, Jasmine Lowe and Danisha Corbett who combined for the first 19 NM State points after halftime.
But it was northern California native Tabytha Wampler who sealed the game down the stretch. The junior forward scored six of the Aggies final eight points - all from the free throw line to secure the win. Wampler was one board away from her sixth double-double of the year ending the game with nine rebounds and 12 points and was a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe.
Lowe also scored 12 for NM State while Spence added 11 including eight in the second half.
NM State shot 32 percent from the floor but beefed up its defense after the half to hold SJSU to 36 percent. The Spartans edged NM State on the boards 29-28. But the Aggies forced SJSU into 25 turnovers, leading to 21 points on the offensive end.
NM State improves to 8-8 overall and 2-0 in the WAC with a pair of road wins to open league play. San Jose State falls to 0-14 overall and 0-2 in conference.
Corbett opened the scoring in the game with a three-pointer. The Aggies built its largest lead of the half at 5-0 after a bucket from Spence.
San Jose State battled back to within one at 10-9 but two free throws from Lowe and a layup from junior guard Kaitlyn Soto pushed the lead back to five with 13:26 left in the stanza.
The Spartans kept the game close midway through the half before a three by junior forward Erica Sanchez made it 19-15 Aggies with 9:32 to go before halftime.
From there Plavljanin caught fire from the floor scoring seven straight points to give SJSU their first lead of the game at 22-19. Those seven were part of a 13-2 run by the home team to end the half. Plavljanin scored a career high 17 points in the first half going a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc, 2-of-2 at the line and 6-of-8 from the field.
The guard's hot hand helped SJSU to match its largest halftime lead of the season and boosted the Spartans' first-half field goal percentage to 44.4 percent. The Aggies shot 30 percent from the floor after not scoring a field goal over the final 9:38 of the half. SJSU led on the board 13-10 at the break. Seven Aggies scored but none scored more than four points in the half.
Lowe and Spence scored the Aggies' first 10 points of the half with five apiece, each scoring from behind and inside the arc. The senior tandem brought the Aggies back to within two with 16:54 remaining at 33-31.
Corbett joined her classmates after the half with a layup and trey to help the Aggies put together a 15-3 run over eight minutes leading to the midpoint of the half. The rally put NM State ahead with its largest lead of the game at 40-34 with 10:05 left.
SJSU rallied to take a 46-42 lead at the 4:20 mark after two treys from Plavljanin, but NM State scored the final eight points of the game.
Plavljanin led all scorers with 28 - no other Spartan scored more than five in the game. Brittany Johnson led the Spartans on the glass with seven boards.
Fresno State 79, Utah State 69 | Stats
Logan, UTAH - Heading into the start of the WAC season, there was plenty of talk about the parity within the conference.
There may be some truth to the chatter, but the Fresno State women's basketball team isn't about to surrender its supremacy. Behind a career night from point guard Taylor Thompson and a decisive second-half run, the Bulldogs fended off a strong challenge from Utah State to win their WAC opener 79-69 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Saturday night.
Fresno State (10-5, 1-0 WAC) has now won 19 consecutive WAC games, four shy of the 23-game record set by Louisiana Tech from 2003-05. The Bulldogs, winners of four consecutive regular-season conference titles, travel to Idaho on Monday.
Thompson finished with a career-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting. She was 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Hayley Munro came off the bench and added 13 points, while Taja Edwards had 10.
Still, the early defense of their WAC championship didn't come without a fierce challenge. The Aggies, which were tabbed to finish eighth in the WAC coaches preseason poll, responded to Fresno State's every challenge for most of the game. Thompson and Rosie Moult drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bulldogs a 40-38 lead. But the Aggies (7-8, 1-1) followed with a basket on the other end.
Then Fresno State went on a big 17-4 run.
Thompson connected on a 3-pointer, her fifth of the night, to give the Bulldogs a 51-44 lead. Back-to-back three-point-plays from Hayley Munro and Bree Farley helped extend the advantage to 57-44 with 8:35 left.
Senior guard Jaleesa Ross ran into foul trouble and picked up her fourth personal with 9:55 to play. That didn't stop her from coming through when it mattered. With Utah State mounting a comeback, Ross knocked down a 3-pointer to push Fresno State's lead to 74-63 with 1:48 to go. Ross finished with 12 points in 27 minutes.
Fresno State found itself in comeback mode right out of the gates, falling behind 8-0. Edwards scored the Bulldogs' first bucket with a drive to the hoop with 17:09 to play in the first half.
Fresno State hit only three of its first 15 shots from the floor, but the group helped itself on the defensive end and forced seven turnovers midway through the first half.
Moult, who knocked down a career-high six 3-pointers last week against UC Riverside, hit another long-range jumper to trim the deficit to 16-12 with 9:17 left in the half. Ross responded with a 3 of her own to cut the Utah State lead to 16-15. The Bulldogs kept pushing, and Edwards later scored in the paint to trim the Aggies' advantage to 25-23 with 4:31 to go in the half.
Thompson had the hot hand in the first half. She hit several big buckets early, one that gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the night (26-25) and another one that gave Fresno State a dose of momentum going into the second half. Thompson scored 11 first-half points, including a bank shot from 3-point range to send the Bulldogs into the locker room trailing 34-32 at halftime.