Feb. 26, 2013
Colorado State Rams (9-16, 5-7 MW) at Fresno State (18-8, 10-3 MW)
Game #27 • MW Game #14 • Feb. 27, 2013
7 p.m. PT • Save Mart Center (15,596) • Fresno, Calif.
Radio: ESPN2 790 AM with Christian Lukens • Live Stats: gobulldogs.com
Series Record: Colorado State leads 8-3 • Last Meeting: 1/27/13 - FS 69, CSU 58 in Fort Collins, Colo.
Fresno State Game Notes
Opening Tip
The Fresno State women's basketball team hosts Colorado State on Wednesday in a 7 p.m. Mountain West game in the Save Mart Center.
This will be Fresno State's third-to-last game before the 2013 Reese's Mountain West Tournament and two of its final three will be played at home.
Last week was an up-and-down one for the Bulldogs, but one that ended on a very high note. The Bulldogs fell one week ago at home to Nevada when they shot a season-low 28.4 percent from the field and went 4-of-28 from the 3-point line. However, the 'Dogs came back on Saturday and won at Boise State behind 51.7 percent shooting and a season-high 14 3-pointers, showing great confidence being able to rebound from the Nevada loss.
Wednesday's game against Colorado State is the second meeting between the schools this year. The Bulldogs won at CSU 69-58 back on Jan. 27. In that game Fresno State was able to score 27 points off the 15 turnovers it forced.
Colorado State leads the all-time series 8-3. The Rams are 3-2 in their last five games and currently sit in sixth place in the Mountain West standings. CSU has held teams to just a 36.6 percent clip shooting the ball this season.
Ki-Ki Moore, who last weekend became the 18th Bulldog to score over 1,000 points at Fresno State, enters the game having scored 20 or more points in three-straight games. In the first meeting with CSU, Moore had 18 points on 8-of-15 shooting with five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Bulldog Headlines
► The 85 points the Bulldogs scored at Boise State last Saturday are the most they have scored in a game this year. The 18-point victory matched their largest win and was their fifth double-digit victory in MW play.
► Rosie Moult has set a new school record for steals in a career with 251. She ranks third in the MW in steals this year with 58.
► Fresno State is tied for sixth nationally with 12.8 steals per game. Its 334 steals on the season are tied for the fifth-most in Mountain West history.
► Ki-Ki Moore has become the 18th player in school history to score over 1,000 points in a Bulldog uniform. In her two seasons at Fresno State, she has scored 1,011 points.
► Sophomore forward Alex Sheedy is averaging 12.0 points and 8.3 rebounds over her last four games.
Fresno State vs. Colorado State - Scouting Report
Wednesday's game between CSU and Fresno State will be the 12th in the series between the two schools. The Rams have won eight of the previous 11 games, including all five that were played in Fresno. This will be Colorado State's first visit to Fresno since Jan. 23, 1997 when the Rams came away with a 66-61 victory.
CSU enters the game 9-16 overall and 5-7 in the Mountain West to sit in sixth place in the league standings. The Rams have won three out of their last five, but all three of those wins have come at home. The two losses were both on the road and CSU is 2-9 on the road this year. Colorado State only scores 56.5 point per game, but it ranks fourth in scoring defense by allowing just 60 points per game and second in field goal percent defense at .366.
Last Time Against Colorado State
Fresno State defeated Colorado State on national TV 69-58 the last time the two teams met back on Jan. 27 of this season. That win back at the time was Fresno State's sixth in its last seven games. The Bulldogs jumped on the Rams early, holding a 21-point lead late in the first half behind a strong pressure defense. Fresno State forced CSU to turn the ball over 15 total times in the game, 13 in the first half alone. The Bulldogs shot 48.1 percent in the game and had four players score in double figures. Ki-Ki Moore led all scorers in the game, as she scored 16 of her 18 points in the first half with ease. She was 8-for-15 from the field with five rebounds and three assists. Bree Farley hit a career-high five 3-pointers, going 5-for-7 from downtown for 15 points. The Bulldogs as a team went 11-for-25 from 3-point range. Rosie Moult added 13 points and Alex Sheedy had 12 second half points to give her 14 for the game.
Fresno State's first half defense was suffocating, which allowed the `Dogs to take a 40-22 lead at the break. The Bulldogs nearly forced CSU to turn the ball over as many times (13) as total shots it attempted (14).
Ki-Ki Moore Reaches 1,000 Points as a Bulldog
Ki-Ki Moore has become the 18th player in school history to score over 1,000 points in a Bulldog uniform. She surpassed the milestone last Saturday when she scored 22 points in the win over Boise State. She scored 571 points last year in her first season as a Bulldog and is at 440 points this year, giving her 1,011 points as a Bulldog. Moore needs 60 more points this season to become just the second player in Fresno State history (joining Jaleesa Ross) as the only Bulldogs to score over 500 points in back-to-back seasons. If you add in her freshman season that she played at Washington State, then Moore's career total for points scored currently sits at 1,371.
Last week, Moore averaged 21 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.5 steals to lead Fresno State. She scored 20 points on Wednesday against Nevada when she was 6-of-15 from the field with five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Then in Saturday's 18-point win at Boise State, Moore scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, she hit a season-high three 3-pointers and added six rebounds, six assists and three steals in her impressive performance. That Boise State game was Moore's third-straight contest scoring 20 or more points and it was her eighth 20-point game this season.
Moult Breaks School Steals Record
Senior guard Rosie Moult became Fresno State's all-time leader in career steals last Saturday when she recorded four steals in the win at Boise State. She now has 251 steals in her four seasons at Fresno State, which pushed her ahead of Jaleesa Ross (2007-11) who previously held the school record at 247. Moult is third in the Mountain West this season with 58 steals, trailing teammates Ki-Ki Moore (80 steals) and Taylor Thompson (72 steals).
Additionally, Moult leads the Mountain West and is tied for 13th nationally with 3.0 made three's per game. She has missed five games this year due to injury, but still leads the conference with 63 total made 3-pointers. Moult has six games this year where she has sunk five trays in a game.
Team Steals
Fresno State is tied for sixth nationally with 12.8 steals per game and the Bulldogs' 334 total steals are 69 more than any other Mountain West team has this year. Ki-Ki Moore leads the MW with 80 steals and she is tied for 21st nationally with 3.08 steals per game. Fresno State is forcing 20.0 turnovers per game this season and has a turnover margin of +4.7. The Bulldogs lead the Mountain West in both turnovers forced and turnover margin.
Bouncing Back
Fresno State has a 7-1 record this season when coming off a loss and has only lost back-to-back games one time, which happened back in mid-December. In their eight games when coming off a loss this year, the Bulldogs have won by an average margin of 14.5 points. They are shooting 45.9 percent in those games, hit eight 3-pointers on average, have out-rebounded their opponent and force an average of 20.6 turnovers in games after a loss. In each game the Bulldogs have won coming off a loss, they have shot better than they did the previous game in defeat.
On the Boards
Fresno State has out-rebounded its opponent in each of the last three games. This is the first time that has happened since the beginning of the year when the Bulldogs opened up the season by out-rebounding each of their first five opponents. Over the last three games, the 'Dogs out-boarded Wyoming - the conference's top rebounding team - by four, had 12 more rebounds than Nevada last Wednesday and out-boarded Boise State by two on the road Saturday.
Sheedy Leads Rebounding Surge
Over the last four games sophomore forward Alex Sheedy has 8.3 rebounds per game, up from her season average of 5.7. She has 33 total rebounds in the last four games, which includes a 10-rebound performance at New Mexico on Feb. 13 and a 12-rebound performance against Nevada on Feb. 20. Those 12 rebounds set a new career-high for Sheedy.
She has also averaged 12.0 points over the last four games and is coming off a 17-point performance against Boise State last Saturday. She was 6-for-12 in the game against the Broncos and went 4-for-4 at the free-throw line. For the season, Sheedy is averaging 10.4 points on 41.7 percent shooting and 5.7 rebounds.
Road Warriors
Fresno State improved to 6-1 in road league games with the one-point victory at New Mexico on Feb. 13, which was its fifth-straight road victory in Mountain West play. The Bulldogs and SDSU, who is 6-0 in league road games, are the only teams with five or more victories on the road in MW play. Saturday's game at Boise State is Fresno State's second-to-last road game of the regular season.
Point guard Taylor Thompson is averaging 12.8 points per road game this year, up from her home scoring average of 7.5 points. She shoots 43.5 percent in road games and junior guard Bree Farley, who averages 8.2 points per game on the road, is shooting 51.8 percent away from home. As a team, Fresno State is shooting 45.6 percent from the field in conference road games while connecting on 42.6 percent of its three's.
