Fresno State was short-handed entering last night’s game against Hawai‘i at the Stan Sheriff Center.
The Bulldogs ended the game way short of the Wahine on the scoreboard.
Dainora Puida scored 20 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and Crystal Lee added 18 points as Hawai‘i defeated Fresno State, 68-49, in a Western Athletic Conference game before 926.
Hawai‘i (17-4 overall, 8-2 WAC) went on a 26-8 run over the first 11 minutes of the second half to take a 52-30 lead. The Wahine’s largest lead was 64-41 with 4:30 remaining.
"We knew they would come in and give us a challenge," Hawai‘i coach Vince Goo said. "I thought we answered that in a lot of areas, especially on the defensive end. We did a good job picking up the tempo in the second half."
Puida scored 18 of her points in the second half, including 11 during a 3:30 span.
"In the first half I didn’t shoot very well," Puida said. "In the second half I tried to focus more on my inside game."
Fresno State (8-14, 4-6) had only seven available players because of injuries. The Bulldogs had four sophomores and one freshman in their starting lineup.
Lindsay Logan, the WAC’s fifth leading scorer with a 17.2 average, didn’t start for Fresno State. The 5-foot-5 sophomore had started all 50 of her collegiate games before last night.
"It was my decision," Fresno State coach Britt King said. "Every once in a while a coach likes to shake up the starting lineup."
Logan left the game with a hip injury midway through the second half, and finished with six points in 26 minutes. She had scored in double figures in all 21 of the Bulldogs’ previous games this season.
"Jana (Gabrielova) went out and put a lot of pressure on her, and really limited her good looks (at the basket)," Goo said.
Hawai‘i outrebounded Fresno State 26-13 in the second half.
"One of the biggest problems for us was we got into foul trouble," King said. "All our post (players) had three or four fouls. We could not play the type of defense that we play. We had to back off. We ended up going to a zone and not playing as much man as we wanted to."
Four Bulldogs finished the game with four fouls.
The first half had 12 lead changes and four ties.
The Wahine went on a 9-2 run to open their largest lead of the half at 15-9 with 11:14 remaining.
The Bulldogs responded with a 7-0 run to take a 16-15 lead with 9:03 remaining.
A 3-pointer by Lee, and a steal and layup by Gabrielova in the final 23 seconds gave Hawai‘i a 26-22 halftime lead.
Logan committed six of her team’s 12 turnovers in the first half.
Lee finished one rebound short of her third consecutive double-double.
"We worked the ball in and out, and we tried to get the ball to the post more," Lee said. "It freed up open shots outside and made them foul us down low."
Notes: Hawai‘i will play Nevada tomorrow at 5 p.m. … Fresno State has not won back-to-back games this season.
