BOX SCORE
FRESNO, Calif. The University of Nevada women’s basketball team fell at first-place Fresno State 81-49 Thursday night. Nevada, who entered the game just half a game out of first place in the conference, falls to 14-6 overall and 5-2 in the WAC. Fresno State improves to 12-9 overall and 7-1 in the WAC.
Brandi Fitzgerald put Nevada up 2-0 before Fresno State went on a 13-0 run to take a 13-2 lead with 16:06 remaining in the first half. Johnna Ward’s jumper with 15:37 left in the half ended the Bulldogs run and pulled Nevada to within nine, 13-4.
Mikail Price hit a pair of free throws to pull the score to 15-8 with 13:37 left in the half. Fitzgerald’s putback closed the gap to five points, 15-10, before Fresno State went on an 8-0 run and pushed its lead back up to 23-10 with 10:15 remaining in the first half.
Fresno State took a 10 point lead, 32-22, on Jaleesa Ross’ three pointer with 4:02 left in the first half. The Bulldogs equaled its largest lead of the half, 14 points, and took a 38-24 lead at halftime.
Fresno State shot 44.4 percent (16-of-36) from the floor in the first half while Nevada shot 32.2 percent (10-of-31) from the floor. The Pack also shot 75.0 percent (3-of-4) from the free throw line.
Tierre Wilson stole Nevada’s inbound pass and scored on a layup with 14:47 remaining in the game as Fresno State went up 46-30. Fresno State stretched its lead to 25 points, 60-35, on a three-pointer by Ross.
Fresno State ended the game shooting 47.8 percent (32-of-67) from the floor while Nevada finished the game shooting 35.1 percent (20-of-57) from the floor. Brandi Fitzgerald scored a team-high nine points for Nevada while Dellena Criner added eight. Bre`Anna Henry grabbed a team-high eight boards for Nevada.
Nevada will host Utah State Saturday at 7 p.m. at Lawlor Events Center. Tickets to the Nevada/Utah State game are just $1.
