Courtesy of Braidon Nourse

LAS VEGAS – For the first time in four years, No. 6 Fresno State is back in the Mountain West semifinals. And sweet revenge it was.

Last time the Bulldogs faced No. 3 Colorado State, the Rams won by 20 in Fort Collins. For Fresno State forward Maria Konstantinidou, this 54-52 win was get-back.

And it felt like that from the beginning. The Bulldogs came out and hit three 3s back-to-back in the first couple of minutes and continued to hit at a 50-percent clip in the entire first half (7-for-14). Part of it was that shots were just falling, but sometimes it’s not without some rhyme or reason.

“I think just having that momentum and kind of dulling them down a bit (was key),” forward Mia Jacobs said. “They didn’t play yesterday and we had the momentum from coming in the day before. So just kind of keeping that rolling and keeping it in our favor.”

Jacobs contributed on both ends, adding game-highs in points (20) and rebounds (18). She became just the fourth player in Mountain West tournament history to put those numbers up.

Down the stretch of what became a tight game, she had a few huge offensive boards that turned into free throws or second-chance points.

“Just keeping moving, not being in one spot. It’s easy to box someone out if they’re standing still,” Jacobs said. “Cutting without the ball when the shot goes up. We got a lot of late shot clocks and I know when the ball is going to be shot. So just trying to crash and get my team another rebound.”

Colorado State, whether by misfortune or by good defensive scheming by Bulldogs coach Jaime White, shot just 29.8 percent from the field.

Fresno State’s shooting dropped significantly near the end of the game, though, while the Rams picked it up in search of what would have been a 12-point comeback. There were some nervy moments, particularly when Hannah Simental hit a deep 3 with 10 seconds left to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to two.

Fresno State held its ground.

“To be honest, we talk about in practice to focus on the next possession, the next 60 seconds, and that’s what we did,” Konstantinidou said. “We focused on defense. Even though the shots weren’t falling, we focused on the next thing which was defense. If we had a great defensive stop, focus on offense, then just keep going.”

White noted the unique challenge Colorado State provides in terms of how to defend a team with no true bigs where shooting can come from anywhere. That obstacle was passed.

Now, with No. 2 Wyoming waiting in the semifinals, the same and the opposite are true; the Cowgirls have a true big in Allyson Fertig, and as they proved in their quarterfinal on Monday, shooting isn’t much of a problem for anyone at the moment.

“(Fertig) draws two and three defenders every night. She gets hung on and banged up and just keeps going,” White said. “We’re obviously not as big, but we do have some size on the bench.

“I think it’s time for some of that to step up, and it’s great because every night brings a different combination. I think our kids are hungry and ready.”

–mw–