Fresno State, the Mountain West favorite, falls flat in opener. How it happened
The Fresno State women’s basketball team made a social justice statement before the Mountain West Conference opener against Colorado State on Thursday, with four players taking a knee during the national anthem, supported by teammates with hands on their shoulders.
They unfurled their Mountain West Conference championship banner from the rafters of the Save Mart Center, and they commemorated the 1,000th career point scored by senior guard Aly Gamez.
But the game itself, not quite that bold and nothing to celebrate.
The Bulldogs, the preseason favorite in the conference with five starters returning including reigning player of the year Maddi Utti and freshman of the year Haley Cavinder, were thumped 89-83 at the Save Mart Center by a Rams team that was picked to finish eighth of 11.
“It’s pretty disappointing,” coach Jaime White, who had the Bulldogs off to 15-0 start in conference play last season. “Obviously, our players and staff were not excited to see that outcome, though I do think Colorado State is a completely different team than last year.
“They played well, and you can’t take that away from them. I feel at times we didn’t match their urgency or their energy and we have to. In this environment we can’t rely on anyone but ourselves and I don’t know that we did that to the extent that we have done that in the past.”
Fresno State (1-2, 0-1 in the MW) missed chances to gain some semblance of control of the game early, pushing leads to eight a couple of times behind the play of twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder, but failed to build on them.
It got to the final 10 minutes with the score tied at 60 and it was 68-68 with 6:43 to play and that is where the Rams (3-0, 1-0) busted open the game, hitting 7 of 9 shots. Guard Ellie Boni, who had taken and made only one 3-pointer this season, hit two threes in that stretch and Colorado State pushed a lead to 12 points twice, the last time with just 2:29 to go.
Lore Devos led Colorado State with 19 points and 10 rebounds and had five players score 10 or more points. The Bulldogs were led by Haley Cavinder, who scored 24 points with eight rebounds and four assists.
The Bulldogs and Rams have a quick turnaround, playing the second of a two-game series on Friday at the Save Mart Center, and Fresno State definitely has some adjustments to make after a loss to a team that is different than the one it beat twice last season.
“They’re a little quicker with their point guard, they definitely shoot the ball way better and they hit the high-post shots,” said Hanna Cavinder, who scored 22 points for the Bulldogs with four rebounds and three assists. “We just have to adjust. We know what they’re doing, so as long as we make the simple changes I think we’ll be alright.”
Unity with community
The show of unity before the game, White said, is part of a team that has engaged with its community, pushing voter registration, meeting with community leaders and youth outreach with a program, Bulldog Buddies, where players meet online to support and mentor kids in the Valley or just be there to talk and listen.
“As far as our support for our team and for our players and coaches, and us all kind of locking arms and supporting our community and the unity within our team and inclusion of our brothers and sisters that maybe need us right now, obviously we’ve talked a lot about it,” White said.
“We support the environment that we’re in, but our players have a voice and we want to support them and love them and know that, if somebody is kneeling or somebody standing, we support everybody. That’s part of that inclusion and our promoting positive change in the world.”