Fresno State women’s hoops makes pivotal passes in the paint to get to 10-0 in Mountain West
The Fresno State women’s basketball team did not shoot all that well Wednesday against Air Force, particularly from the 3-point line.
The Bulldogs hit just 11.1% of their shots from long range.
And their three leading scorers, Maddi Utti and freshman twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder, were a combined 10 of 33 from the field overall, including just 1 of 10 on 3-pointers.
But the Bulldogs simply eviscerated the Falcons’ defense with some deft, precision passing in the paint and with straight-ish line drives in a 61-52 victory at the Save Mart Center.
In the process, Fresno State extended its winning streak to nine games and reached 10-0 in Mountain West play.
Fresno State is the first Mountain West team to start conference play at 10-0 since Colorado State went a perfect 18-0 in 2016.
“It’s best not to think of it too much,” said coach Jaime White of her team’s 10-0 conference start. “It’s nice that we are. But just focusing on the next game, I think, has really been the recipe.”
Fresno State (17-4, 10-0) next heads Saturday to “The Pit” to take on New Mexico (12-11, 3-7).
“I think we play well on the road,” White added. “We’ve taken a lot of pride to work hard and be ready for the games on the road. And it’s kind of fun because on the road you feel like it’s you against the world. And when you go to ‘The Pit’ it kind of is. I think we’re excited to play there.
“Some of our kids haven’t played there and I think that’s kind of fun, too, with the young kids that we have. They don’t know what to expect.”
More of the same from Wednesday wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Fresno State had 14 assists on 23 made baskets in its victory over Air Force.
That was a big help. Fresno State not only hit just 39.7% of its shots, it turned over the basketball 15 times, which led to 16 Air Force points.
Of Fresno State’s 23 field goals against the Falcons, the Bulldogs scored 42 of their points in the paint. They also scored 13 points from the free-throw line.
Fresno State’s last assist came with 3:55 to play after the Falcons (4-17, 2-8) had forced three turnovers in five possessions and cut the Bulldogs’ lead from 16 points midway through the third quarter down to just 52-50.
White got a timeout, and out of it, Utti whipped the basketball into the left corner to a wide-open Hanna Cavinder.
That shot went down, the Bulldogs went up by five. Air Force cut it back to three, but Haley Cavinder answered with a drive to the basket and Fresno State was able to get back-to-back stops and get away again.
“We know we kind of let them come back into the game and we didn’t want that,” said Gamez, who led the Bulldogs with 16 points and had nine rebounds, two assists and two steals. “But at the end of the day, we had to finish the game out.”
REACTION TO KOBE’S DEATH
White on the death of Kobe Bryant: “Kobe was an advocate for women’s basketball and we so appreciate that because never has a bigger star come out and really supported women’s basketball. And that’s really special to us and probably made it a little bit closer to home. Also, his daughter being in the accident and then also a club coach and another player. That’s just so unfortunate, but if we can cherish the life we have and realize how precious life is and love the people around us, I think that’s the most important thing. It’s hard that we learned that from this. But let’s learn something.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 11:11 PM.