The Fresno State women’s basketball team (14-16, 8-10 in MW) fell to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (19-10, 14-5 in MW) in a 68-54 loss on Feb. 28 at the Save Mart Center.
The Lady Rebels are one of the top defensive teams in the Mountain West—ranking highly in different defensive categories—and as a result, held the Bulldogs’ offense to 31.5% shooting on the night. But, with dwindling roster availability, Head Coach Ryan McCarthy also credited it to fatigue.
“Part of it too is fatigue on our part, UNLV is a great team. I don’t think it was what we didn’t do, that’s what a great team does to a team like us,” McCarthy said.
To name a few statistics, the Lady Rebels rank fifth in opponent field-goal percentage (39%), third in blocks (3.38 bpg), and second in opponent turnovers (12.69 tpg).
Additionally, before tip-off, the Bulldogs honored six seniors: Morelia Chavez, Indiya Clark, Djessira Diawara, Jaisa Gamble, Hedda Köehne, and Emilia Long—players that McCarthy highly values when it comes to creating team culture.
“In the days of transfers and those types of things, and to have six seniors say, ‘if I could do this again in the same place, I would’, that speaks volumes to the underclassmen and players becoming future Bulldogs,” McCarthy said.
Key players
Emilia Long (FS): 14 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals
Jaisa Gamble (FS): 9 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, 5 turnovers
Aali Alexander (UNLV): 21 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals
Roland Meadow (UNLV): 17 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists
What happened
The Bulldogs opened the first quarter with a sloppy start, turning the ball over eight times, which the Lady Rebels converted into seven points. Additionally, the Lady Rebels made a living in the paint, scoring 12 points under the rim.
But, the steady play of the Bulldogs’ senior duo of Emilia Long and Jiasa Gamble was enough to keep the ‘Dogs in the game—given the 18-10 Lady Rebel cushion to end the quarter.
The Lady Rebels picked up where they left off, in the first quarter, pounding the paint to grow their lead. However, the Bulldogs answer with paint points of their own spearheaded by forward Djessira Diawara and her aggressiveness under the rim to ignite a 7-2 run to cut into the 26-19 LadyRebel lead.
Despite that, the Lady Rebels responded with a run of their own—and combined with their stout defense—the Lady Rebels entered halftime 36-22.
The Bulldogs opened the third quarter with a 7-4 run, sparked by the freshman guard Ava Marr. Marr was responsible for four of the seven points to trim the Lady Rebel lead to 40-31—forcing the Lady Rebels to call a timeout midway through the quarter.
Following the timeout, the Lady Rebels made adjustments to keep the Bulldogs’ hot shooting at bay to close the quarter up 48-36.
In the final quarter, the Lady Rebels were sharp on the defensive end, staying in a 2-3 zone defense for much of the quarter—giving the Bulldogs a fit. To add salt to the wound, the Lady Rebels were on a heater on offense, going 8-13 (61.5%) from the field and 4-8 (50%) from beyond-the-arc en route to the 68-54 Lady Rebel victory.
What’s next
The Bulldogs wrap up the season at The Pit to face New Mexico University (20-9, 12-6 in MW) on March 3 at 6 p.m.
With the Mountain West Basketball Tournament on the horizon, the Bulldogs will most likely finish the season as the seventh seed and face Grand Canyon University (11-17, 10-8 in MW). This season, the Lopes swept the season series against the Bulldogs in double digit wins, going 2-0.
Recap written by Vincent Ordonio, cover photo courtesy of Evan Hernandez.