Box Score
The Sunbirds held a lead early but were unable to hold on as the Bulldogs used a late first half push and ran away 102-57 in an exhibition win over FPU.
"I was really pleased with the first 15 minutes," said head coach Erin Scholz. "I saw a lot of good things from our team and now we just have to find ways to sustain that energy and pressure we had in the first part of the game."
Keairra White led the way for Fresno Pacific with 21 points and three rebounds. White was able to penetrate the paint better than any Sunbird on the night but was unable to finish some chances as she went 7-22 in field goals.
The Sunbirds shot just 31-percent from the floor and were out rebounded 60-28. 2011-12 All-American Jenay Herring was unable to find a rhythm on offense shooting just 1-10 from the floor for just five points on the night. Herring did chip in four boards and three assists on the night.
Fresno Pacific was able to hang with the Bulldogs with a rush of hard pressing defense in the opening five minutes of the game. All-in-all the Sunbirds came away with 12 steals forcing 25 turnovers, one of the areas FPU had an edge in.
Ultimately the Bulldogs were just too crisp in the half court set moving the ball around well and finding open looks from deep where they shot 11-24 or finding open paths to the rim.
"I think somewhere around the 3-5 minute mark in the first half something changed with us and we never really recovered from that," said Scholz.
The loss was a significant improvement over last season's 122-49 loss and was the first time the Sunbirds broke the 50-point barrier since a 74-57 loss in 2008.
"When you are building a new identity there are going to be tests and times you are going to be tempted to revert to some of the old ways," said Scholz. "I saw some of that tonight but overall I don't take anything negative away from our performance tonight. I saw a lot of great things to build on for the season."
Fresno Pacific will be at home this Friday at 5 pm for their second exhibition match of the season against Cal State San Marcos.
