Poor-shooting Fresno State women can’t keep up with Utah

Plagued by poor shooting, Fresno State women’s basketball couldn’t find its rhythm in a 65-55 nonconference loss against Utah on Tuesday at Save Mart Center.

The Bulldogs (1-1) made just 3 of 17 shots from the field in the first period, allowing the Utes (2-0) to go on a 10-2 scoring run and take an 18-8 lead they never relinquished.

Tanaeya Boclair scored a game-high 16 points to lead Utah, while 6-foot-6 center Emily Potter added 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. Paige Crozon had a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.

Junior center Bego Faz Davalos led the Bulldogs with 12 points and 10 boards for her first double-double of the season. Candice White added 12 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, while freshman Kristina Cavey finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench.

Stat of the night – 17 of 62 (27.4 percent), the Bulldogs’ shooting efficiency from the field against the Utes, with the starting lineup combining to make just 12 of 46 of those shots (26.1 percent). The poor shooting saw Fresno State go through three offensive droughts, each resulting in Utah scoring runs of 10 points or more.

Quote of the night – “I think (the players) could execute and be a little more disciplined and understand game-time situations. We had some fumbling drives, sloppy passes, and just execution in general. Utah is a good team, but I don’t think they’re so good that they should make us play that way. We weren’t in rhythm, I guess.” – Bulldogs coach Jaime White

More on this later – White and the Bulldogs are still searching for a rotation from a lineup that returns just two starters from last year’s team (Faz Davalos and Knishka). “I just feel like with this new group, once we get in sync a little bit, it will be like clockwork,” White said. “We need our newcomers. We need some of those young kids to be ready. We need Kendra (Martin) to be ready and rebound. I feel like we did not rebound great tonight, and that was frustrating.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2016 at 10:23 PM with the headline "Poor-shooting Fresno State women can’t keep up with Utah."