by by: Silas Albright
RENO, Nev. – After a hard fought battle from buzzer to buzzer on Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs of Fresno State came away with a 71-70 victory over the hosting Nevada Wolf Pack.
Trailing by one point with 6.5 seconds on the clock, Nevada had the ball and a chance to hit the game-winning shot. With the ball inbounded to senior Stephanie Schmid, she drove to the basket and floated up a shot that bounced over the rim. The offensive board was picked up by sophomore Terae Briggs (Crow Tribe) and with just a couple tenths of a second left on the clock, Briggs put up a desperation layup for the win but the ball bounced off the rim and sent the Bulldogs home with the victory.
Briggs recorded her third double-double of the season to lead the Wolf Pack with a career-high 22 points, on 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. Briggs also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end. Briggs added to her dominating performance with four blocked shots. Schmid also played well for Nevada, scoring 19 points on 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and was a perfect 4-of-4 at the charity stripe. Schmid also surpassed two career milestones against Fresno State as she scored her 500th point and grabbed her 100th rebound.
AJ Cephas had another nice game for the Pack, missing her fourth double-double of the year by just one point and one rebound, scoring nine points while grabbing nine rebounds and blocking two shots. The Wolf Pack outrebounded the Bulldogs 37-28 while also getting to the line more often than Fresno State. The Pack was 21-of-26 (81 percent) while Fresno State shot just 55 percent from the free throw line, going 6-of-11 on the afternoon.
Despite taking a 10 point (45-35) lead into the locker room at halftime, Nevada wasn’t able to hang on and secure its first Mountain West conference victory of the year. Fresno State outscored the Wolf Pack in both the third and fourth quarters and picked up their defensive pressure coming out of the break. The Bulldogs forced 14 turnovers in the second half after only forcing six through the first 20 minutes of play.
It was a tale of two halves for the Wolf Pack as they closed the first half on fire, making its final six shots of the frame. To close the second half though, Fresno State was able to hold the Wolf Pack without a field goal throughout the final 6:14. The Bulldogs were also more efficient than Nevada, shooting 49 percent on the day while holding the Pack to just 39 percent.
Candice White led the Bulldogs while scoring a game and career-high 25 points while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Katelin Noyer chipped in 12 points for the Bulldogs, also securing a career high.
The Wolf Pack drops to 6-7 overall and 0-2 in Mountain West play while the Bulldogs improve to 8-5 on the year and 1-1 in the Mountain West.
Nevada hits the road once again for a Mountain West contest at San Diego State next Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 6:30 p.m.
