SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The Fresno Pacific Sunbirds (1-0 overall) used a strong second half to knock off the Chico State Wildcats (0-1 overall) 59-49 in the first game of the 2022-23 season on Friday night at the Conlan Center on the campus of Dominican University.
"We know our team has the ability to defend at a very elite level on any given night. It was fantastic to see that night one of our season," head coach
Tim Beauregard said. "We have a lot of players that have a versatility to them both offensively and defensively, and tonight it was definitely a team effort on both ends. This team is bought in to the motto 'anybody any night' and tonight it took a collective defensive effort to get the job done. Our offense generated high percentage shots and although we didn't shoot the ball as well as I know we can, our defense never wavered in our connectivity. That allowed us to sustain stretches of the game until we could knock down a few."
"We plan to celebrate tomorrow night after what we know will take another start to finish effort to get a win."
The Sunbirds sealed the season-opening win after a solid second half where they outscored the Wildcats 39-28.
The game started with a quick 5-0 run from Chico State before a jump shot from
Maesyn Rix and a three-pointer from
Felicia Dourva tied things up with 6:23 left in the first period.
FPU took a 6-5 lead after a free throw from
Olivia Garcia, but Chico State closed the period out on a 10-5 run to take a 15-11 lead into the second quarter.
The second quarter went back and forth thanks to a three-pointer from
Joleen Corona, as well as jumpers from Garcia and Rix, but a jump shot from the Wildcats gave Chico State a 21-20 lead with 53 seconds to go in the half, and they would take that lead into the break.
Chico State led by as many as four in the third quarter on two separate occasions, but the Sunbirds hung around offensively and outscored the Wildcats 18-12 in the quarter to take a 38-33 lead into the final 10 minutes after
Jenna Kurz knocked down a layup with three seconds remaining in the quarter.
The Wildcats were able to get the game within three in the final quarter with 8:48 to go, but the Sunbirds were able to take over from that point, thanks to two three-pointers from
Sara Lundqvist and another from Dourva, as well as baskets down the stretch from Breanna Hurt,
Rachel Berry and
Anisa Rillo to give FPU the 10-point win.
Lundqvist led the Sunbirds in scoring with 12 points and added four rebounds to her tally. Rix dominated on the boards, pulling down 11 rebounds to go along with eight points, and Kurz was just shy of a double-double, pulling down eight rebounds and scoring seven points off the bench.
FPU will be back in action at Dominican University on Saturday when they take on Sonoma State. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
SUNBIRD SOCIAL
- Twitter - @fpusunbirds
- Instagram - @fpusunbirds
- Facebook - /FPUsunbirds
#TeamFPU
