Bulldogs in high gear, score 90 or more for third straight game in racing by Utah State

The Fresno State women’s basketball team extended a sizzling run Saturday, blasting away from Utah State and breezing to a 93-85 victory at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan.

The Bulldogs have put up 90 or more points in three games in a row for the first time in school history and had 20 or more assists for a third game in a row.

And, after playing through some injuries and COVID-19 contact tracing protocols in a slowish start for a team with five returning starters, they appear to be putting everything together at the offensive end.

“A good end to a road sweep,” coach Jaime White said. “We hadn’t had one of those yet, so that felt good. That second night is tougher and tougher, but I thought our players played well. We had good leads at moments. Obviously to have our top four in double-digits was great.

“I thought (Wytalla Motta), both games were really good. She got good rebounds and helped us out offensively. Hanna and Haley (Cavinder) having 21, Maddi Utti had seven assists. We had 26 assists for our team. I also thought Brooke Walling came in and helped us out a little bit.”

Fresno State (11-6, 9-3 Mountain West) put up 29 points in the first quarter, had 53 at halftime and 78 through three quarters, moving the ball, making the extra pass, scoring in transition and knocking down shots in the half court.

The 78 points in just 30 minutes is more than the Bulldogs had scored three times in a stretch where they have now won seven of eight games with a series at home against Air Force coming up Wednesday and Thursday.

The Aggies (4-11, 2-8) moved the ball and hit a high percentage of their shots, as well. But, ranked ninth in the Mountain West in field goal percentage and sixth in scoring, Utah State didn’t figure to ever catch the Bulldogs, who are packing a scoring punch that also included guard Aly Gamez with 13 points and five assists.

More and more, they are looking like the team that went 25-7 last season including 16-2 with a regular-season conference championship.

“I thought there were moments at times tonight,” White said. “I thought there we finished well. We shot 47% from the field, which is really good, and I think there are moments of some pretty good toughness.

“I would like to see us defend a little bit better — that’s one thing it seems to not be as consistent as our offense. That’s our hope, and then going down the stretch we feel confident with the next six games we are moving forward, moving in the right direction, getting some minutes for our kids on the bench and just continuing to get better every day.”

This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 4:35 PM.