Feb. 4, 2012

Weatherspoon Postgame Audio

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RUSTON - Angie Felton's running 30-footer at the buzzer bounced off the rim as Fresno State solidified its spots atop the Western Athletic Conference standings with a 61-59 win over Louisiana Tech before 7,034 fans at the Thomas Assembly Center Saturday night.

With Tech trailing by two, Fresno State forward Rosie Moult missed the front end of a one-and-one with just under six seconds remaining. Tech's Whitney Frazier pulled down the rebound, found point guard Jasmine Bendolph who found Felton running up the middle of the floor.

Felton got a good look but just misfired as Fresno State survived a furious LA Tech rally. It's the sixth straight game in the rivalry which will end after this year when Fresno State moves to the Mountain West Conference that has been decided in overtime or by two points.

With the victory, the Bulldogs improved to 18-4, 7-0 in WAC play, while LA Tech fell to 11-11, 4-3 in league action.

Fresno State entered the game ranked second in the nation in three-pointers made per game at 9.8, but Louisiana Tech put pressure on the perimeter and held the Bulldogs to 0-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. However, Fresno State made Tech pay on dribble penetration as the Bulldogs scored 52 points in the paint and the other nine at the free throw line.

After a conventional three-point play by Shantale Bramble-Donaldson gave Tech its only lead of the game a 3-2 early in the contest, Fresno State used a 12-0 run to take a 14-3 advantage. A tip-in by Felton stopped the run but the Bulldogs would push the lead out to 20-7 - its biggest of the game - on a Ki-Ki Moore layup with 9:53 to play in the first half.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Whitney Jones and Felton trimmed the lead to 20-13 and Tech would eventually cut the deficit to 25-19 on a layup by Frazier with under five minutes to play in the half. However, Fresno State closed the half with a 6-2 run to lead 31-21 at the break.

Tech shot only 29 percent (9-31) for the half while Fresno State hit 46 percent (13-28).

The Lady Techsters came out in the second half and executed much better offensively, eventually cutting the double digit deficit down to 41-36 on a layup by Felton with 14:17 to play. Tech trailed 47-42 when freshman guard Kanedria Andrews provided a huge spark off the bench, scoring seven straight points - including a pair of three-pointers - as Tech tied the game at 49-49 with 7:35 to play.

Fresno State answered, using a 12-4 run to take a 61-53 lead with 3:02 to play before Felton sparked a run of six straight points by LA Tech to trim the lead to 61-59. After a defensive stop by the Techsters, Tech called a timeout with 10 seconds to play to draw up the final play.

However, out of the timeout, Frazier and Whitney Jones collided while trying to run the offensive set which forced a turnover by Jasmine Bendolph. Tech committed the foul on Moult setting up the final six seconds.

For the game, Tech shot 40 percent (22-55), 5-of-15 from the three-point line and 10-of-11 from the free throw line while Fresno State shot 44 percent (26-59), 0-of-8 from the three-point line and 9-of-13 from the free throw line.

Tech outrebounded the Bulldogs 36-34.

Bramble-Donaldson and Felton led Tech with 13 points while Frazier added 12 points.

Moore led the Bulldogs with 20 points while Madison Parish added 15.

Tech returns to action Thursday when it travels to Logan to face Utah State.