by LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Nevada women’s basketball team was eliminated in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament, 62-57, to Fresno State Monday evening.
Junior guard T Moe produced one of her all-around best games of the season, pouring in a team-high 18 points and added eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. Senior Stephanie Schmid scored 10 points in her final collegiate game and sophomore Terae Briggs (Crow Tribe) added 10 points as well. Sophomore AJ Cephas grabbed a team-best 10 rebounds to go along with seven points and three steals.
Overall the Wolf Pack (11-19) offense struggled to score points, shooting just 28.8 percent (19-of-66) for the game. The game got away from Nevada slightly in the second quarter as it scored seven points and connected on 12.5 percent (2-of-16) of its shots in the period. Nevada went into halftime trailing by eight, 28-20.
Moe opened the second half scoring seven straight points and cut the Bulldogs’ lead to five. The Pack outscored the Bulldogs 20-14 in the third and trailed by two, 42-40, going into the final period. Nevada connected on just 33.3 percent (6-of-18) in the third but held Fresno State (16-14) to just 12 shot attempts in that period.
With Nevada trailing by 11 with just over five to play in the game, back-to-back three-pointers by Schmid and Halie Bergman quickly brought the deficit back down to five. The game turned into a back-and-forth affair as the Pack found itself down six with 1:45 left until Schmid drained a three to make it a three-point game. After a few free throws, Fresno State regained a six-point lead with a minute left.
Moe let a shot go from long range and rattled it home to bring it back to a three-point game with 33.2 ticks on the clock. On the ensuing Bulldogs’ possession, a held ball gave possession back to Nevada with 28.1 seconds left. Bergman put up the potential game-tying three that kicked off the side of the backboard, giving the ball back to Fresno State with 10.2 seconds left. Fresno State’s Candice White was sent to the foul line and hit both shots, sealing the five-point win for the Bulldogs.
Nevada head coach Jane Albright ends her 33-year career as a Division I head coach with 512 wins overall, 115 of those at the helm of the Wolf Pack.
