Fresno State women’s basketball: Bulldogs’ slide stretches to three with another OT loss
Carelessness again cost the Fresno State women’s basketball team.
The Bulldogs committed 25 turnovers, five in overtime, and allowed Boise State to shoot 50% from the field en route to a 75-66 loss Saturday afternoon at Taco Bell Arena.
Fresno State (17-6, 9-3 Mountain West), which started conference play with nine straight wins, has lost three straight — the past two in OT. During the slump, the Bulldogs have averaged 23 turnovers per game, with opponents scoring at a 20.3-point clip off those mistakes. Boise State (16-7, 8-4) generated 24 points off turnovers.
The last time Fresno State lost three straight was in 2007, when the Bulldogs opened 0-6 but went on to win the Western Athletic Conference Tournament and secure a first-ever NCAA Tournament bid under then-coach Adrian Wiggins.
Bulldogs forward Alex Sheedy was held to a season-worst four points Saturday afternoon while playing a season-low 14 minutes. Sheedy, who was ranked fourth in the Mountain West in scoring at 16 points per game, picked up two fouls in the first 3 minutes, 11 seconds and never seemed to find a rhythm. She was 1 of 4 from the field and committed three turnovers.
Center Toni Smith led Fresno State with 19 points and eight rebounds. Senior Moriah Faulk, who scored 12 points in a season-high 21 minutes, had a chance to win the game in regulation, attempting two free throws with 4 seconds left and the Bulldogs down a point. The senior, 5 for 5 at the line at that point, made her first but missed the second.
The Broncos grabbed the rebound and held the ball in the backcourt as the final few seconds ran out, then started overtime on a 7-0 run and shot 14 of 18 from the free-throw line in the extra session. Boise State’s Miquelle Askew, a 6-foot-3 junior, scored a season-high 23 points while shooting 9 of 9 from the field.
Fresno State was coming off a 73-70 overtime loss at home to UNLV. The Bulldogs lost 56-51 at San Jose State to begin the skid.
This story was originally published February 14, 2015 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Fresno State women’s basketball: Bulldogs’ slide stretches to three with another OT loss."