White scores 29 and Bulldogs advance in WBI with win at Bakersfield
The Women’s Basketball Invitational is built for younger teams, a chance to keep playing, log more minutes, more games and to gain more experience.
Few in the nation are younger this season than Fresno State.
But it’s also good to have a more experienced hand, and without Candice White, the Bulldogs’ stay in the WBI would have been a short one.
White scored 11 of her game-high 29 points in the final 4:15 -- making up for the fact that the Bulldogs lost a 13-point lead entering the fourth -- and guided Fresno State in a 77-66 victory against Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday at Icardo Center.
“She really put it on her shoulders at the end there and that was great to see,” said coach Jaime White, who started three freshmen for the 24th time this season. “All of these experiences for them are good. It’s just layer after layer getting better and I felt like this young team has earned their stripes this year.”
With the score tied at 60, the Roadrunners had a chance to take a lead when Kate Tokuhara came up with a steal. Tokuhara missed a contested layup.
White, a junior guard and first-team All-Mountain West selection, then knocked down a jumper from the right wing and after a stop scored off an assist by freshman Aly Gamez while fouled.
The free throw put the Bulldogs up five and after a Bakersfield basket, White hit a 3-pointer and Fresno State (17-14) was on to the next round of the WBI.
They play next on Monday at the Save Mart Center against Nevada, a 70-60 winner at home Thursday over UC Irvine. Fresno State and Nevada split regular-season meetings in the Mountain West Conference. Game time Monday is 7 p.m.
“They were trapping us in the corners and we were getting stuck a little bit, but they did a good job coming down,” Coach White said. “I thought everybody did a good job being available and open to make those passes and we just didn’t turn the ball over, got a little bit of a lead and then I felt we were pretty safe, especially if they were going to foul Candice.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2018 at 11:02 PM with the headline "White scores 29 and Bulldogs advance in WBI with win at Bakersfield."