Bulldogs work inside to knock out Aggies, claim outright Mountain West championship

Fresno State went to Utah State on Saturday with a share of the Mountain West women’s basketball championship and the No. 1 seed at the conference tournament already in its back pocket, having won all of its league games.

Its matinee at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum was only more of the same, which led to Fresno State capturing an outright Mountain West title.

The Bulldogs raced away with a 79-61 victory over the Aggies by turning defense into offense and dominating the paint with Hanna Cavinder scoring 20 points, Maddi Utti adding 18 and Aly Gamez 13.

Cavinder made eight field goals – one 3-pointer and seven layups. Utti had eight baskets, all of them coming in the paint.

“We did a good job in transition,” coach Jaime White said. “Our defense created some turnovers, and then we’re able to just get out, and not even just turnovers, off rebounds. We were able to get out and finish in transition, especially early.”

Fresno State (22-4, 15-0), which clinched the conference regular-season title with three games still on the schedule, had a 46-20 advantage in points in the paint and scored 21 points off turnovers.

It is the Bulldogs’ fifth regular-season conference title, the first four coming when in the Western Athletic Conference in 2008, ‘09, ‘10 and ‘12. Fresno State won Mountain West Tournament championships in 2013 and ‘14.

“That was the thing I think for our kids,” White said. “We’ve worked hard, we have a good record, we should win it outright. That was our motivation going into the game …

“We were waiting to see how we were going to respond (after clinching a tie with a 78-76 victory over second-place San Jose State on Wednesday at the Save Mart Center). That game was so fun and so dramatic toward the end. It was in front of all our fans. I think we all lived on Twitter for about 24 hours. But I think they responded pretty good.”

The Bulldogs did, making quick work of Utah State. They ended the first quarter on a 12-3 run and just continued to build that lead.

They led by as many as 19 and were ahead by 10 or more throughout the second half, allowing White to work her bench a little more.

Hanna Cavinder, fourth in the conference in minutes played with 35.1, was on the floor for a season-low 28 minutes.

“I thought if we got a little bit of a lead early, we were going to be able to play multiple people. And to be honest, it’d be really nice to be able to give them a little break here and there so they’re fresh and not beat up going into the tournament,” White said.

Fresno State plays at Air Force on Wednesday, then Nevada on a Senior Day Saturday at the Save Mart Center and closes the regular season at Wyoming on Feb. 27. The Falcons started Saturday in 10th place in the Mountain West, while Nevada was seventh and Wyoming fifth.

“It is nice when we have our bench come in and be able to play well,” White said. “I thought (Jordanna Porter) got some good minutes today and we needed her to have that and Brooke (Walling) and Kendyll (Kinzer) are getting in and getting some minutes. The more our bench can play the more that would help us.

“Bree Delaney had good minutes last year. You have Jordanna and Genna (Ogier), who was a two-year starter. We have good experience on the bench and I think we need to use that, especially in these next three games.”

Mountain West tournament

The Bulldogs know they’ll be playing Monday, March 2 at noon against the winner of the Sunday, March 1 game pitting the Nos. 8 and 9 seeds.

A win sends Fresno State into the first semifinal on Tuesday, March 3 at 6 p..m. The championship is Wednesday, March 4 at 8 p.m.

This story was originally published February 15, 2020 at 6:23 PM.