Women come up short
SMU had a chance to distance itself from the mass of the group pursuing the second seed in the WAC tournament, but a physical bunch from Fresno St. had other ideas as the Bulldogs took a 70-62 victory in front of a raucous Moody Coliseum crowd.
Amy Parrish led the Bulldogs with 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and she set a tone by playing aggressive defense on the SMU posts, holding them to a combined 8-of-22 shooting on the day.
The Mustangs were down only two at halftime, but watched the Bulldogs extend the lead to as much nine early in the second half before SMU cut it to one with 8:20 to go.
Then a mysterious technical foul on Kendall Shead helped extend the lead back to 54-47 with 7:17 to go.
The Mustangs tried to make another run, but a charge call on Sarah Davis on what appeared to be a potential three-point play allowed Fresno to weather the run and take the lead to as much as 10 before some late free-throws iced the game.
SMU’s greatest asset all year, its field goal percentage defense, let it down. Fresno managed to shoot 48 percent from the field as they got an array of open looks from three, and scored multiple times on back to the basket moves.
SMU had been leading the WAC with holding their opponents to 35 percent shooting on the year.
SMU was also out rebounded 40-28 on the night, with 15 of Fresno’s rebounds being offensive leading to 11 second-chance points.
“We had some letdowns on defense and it cost us,” Davis said, “but we have to bounce back next week.”
SMU didn’t reap the benefits of its 27 forced turnovers, as it turned the ball over itself 24 times and shot only 35 percent from the field. Janielle Dodds, who put up 14 points and had five rebounds on the afternoon, paced the Mustangs while Kendall Shead pitched in 13 points and four assists. Sophomore forward Katie Gross went four-of-eight from beyond the three-point arc on her way to 12 points on the day.
The loss was especially painful for the Mustangs as the team takes to the road for three straight contests starting Thursday against the San Jose Spartans.
