- The Fresno Bee
Sunday, Mar. 17, 2013 | 11:45 PM
The night before Fresno State defeated San Diego State 76-70 to win the Mountain West Conference championship and lock up a berth in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, the Bulldogs intently watched two videos.
One was of Fresno State's surprising 80-72 win at San Diego State to open up conference play in January. The other was of the Bulldogs' embarrassing 74-49 loss to the Aztecs in February at the Save Mart Center.
Each would serve as blueprints for the No. 2 Bulldogs in Saturday's rubber match with the top-seeded Aztecs in the tournament final.
"Everything happened just perfectly where we had enough confidence because we'd beat them once -- we knew how we needed to beat them -- and we knew how we couldn't play if we were going to beat them," Fresno State coach Raegan Pebley recounted Sunday after the team arrived back on campus with a warm greeting from a handful of fans following a seven-hour bus ride from Las Vegas.
"The girls went out and executed beautifully."
Among the keys to Fresno State's upset was knocking down open shots, most notably from center Alex Sheedy, who led the Bulldogs with 18 points against the Aztecs in the first meeting.
The made field goals would help the Bulldogs set up their vaunted fullcourt press, which generated an average of 20 forced turnovers during three tournament games, including 11 against San Diego State.
The Bulldogs came up with several big shots early and led by as many as 22 with 16:25 remaining.
For the night, Fresno State shot just 37.3%, but the Bulldogs made nine 3-pointers and shot 40.9% from behind the arc.
Most of the long-range damage came from Rosie Moult, who found her stroke again after being held to just six points in a 63-62 win against Wyoming in the semifinals, as well as Sheedy, who stayed aggressive the entire night by attacking in the paint and behind the 3-point line. Both shot 4 of 6 from downtown.
And when San Diego State came charging back and reduced Fresno State's lead to 71-69 with 1:13 remaining, the Bulldogs elected to go to Sheedy down the stretch with top player Ki-Ki Moore having an off night (shot 6 of 21).
As seen in Fresno State's first game against San Diego State, Sheedy had a mismatch, paired against the Aztecs' slower post players.
She took advantage, as the sophomore center got fouled on a 3-point attempt with 49 seconds left, drained all three free throws to put Fresno State ahead 74-69 and gave the Bulldogs the cushion needed to hold on to the victory.
"No one wants to lose, but I do believe that some losses are good for you like the (San Diego State loss)," Bulldogs point guard Taylor Thompson said. "You can learn from them, know that you do not want that to happen again. I think a lot of people forgot that we beat them before, and we were the only team to beat them in our conference.
"We had confidence. I knew it was going to be a fight. We fought hard and got the win."
Sheedy finished with 21 points, just behind Moore's game-high 22 points.
Fresno State (24-8), which has won seven straight, now advances to a sixth straight NCAA Tournament and the first with Pebley leading the Bulldogs.
The team will watch the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 4 p.m. today at the Duncan Building to find out the Bulldogs' postseason matchup.
One ESPN.com projection had Fresno State seeded No. 14 and against No. 3 Nebraska in a regional in Spokane, Wash. The Bulldogs are aiming for their first win in the NCAA postseason.
"I think it's exciting to keep the tradition going here of what's been made and set here before us," Moore said. "And just to go get the first win in the NCAA Tournament will be special for everyone, especially our team."
