Fresno State women beat New Mexico St. 72-56 to reach NCAAs

3/15/2008 4:49 PM

By TIM KORTE
AP Sports Writer

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) -Jaleesa Ross joined the midcourt party as Fresno State celebrated its first trip to the NCAA tournament.

Later, she grabbed the water bottles and hustled into the locker room.

``I've got to pay my dues, just like all the seniors,'' Ross said. ``They all did it. It doesn't matter what I do. I'm still a freshman.''

Make that a fabulous freshman.

Ross scored 16 of her 20 points in the second half as Fresno State beat New Mexico State 72-56 on Saturday in the WAC finals.

``It's going to be mind-blowing to be there, to set history,'' said WAC player of the year Tierre Wilson, who scored 17.

Ross was named WAC tournament MVP, adding to her regular-season award as the league's newcomer of the year.

Bailey Amundsen added 11 points and Erica Henry had 13 rebounds, lifting Fresno State (22-10) into the NCAA tournament on a hot streak. The Bulldogs, who started 0-6 and lost six of their first eight games, have won 20 of their last 22.

Amid the whirling confetti, the players gathered at midcourt and held up a sign that said, ``We're going dancing.''

There was no more magic for New Mexico State (23-9), which lost in the WAC tournament championship game for the third straight year.

In a semifinal win over Boise State, the Aggies erased a 19-point deficit in the second half for a stirring comeback victory. This time, they just couldn't get the shots to fall and disappointed fans never got involved.

``I don't feel like we lost this game today,'' New Mexico State coach Darin Spence said. ``We lost it yesterday. When you get down 19 points and come roaring back, you expend all that energy.''

Trouble was everywhere for NMSU, starting with Fresno State's 49-29 rebounding advantage. The Aggies had averaged 39.1 boards on the season.

``That was their strength,'' Bulldogs coach Adrian Wiggins said. ``Most teams can block them out for one half. We did it for two.''

Plus, starting point guard Madison Spence watched all 40 minutes from the bench after spraining an ankle against Boise State.

``It hurt us a lot,'' said New Mexico State's Anikia Jawara, who scored 19. ``I felt the difference. We had no transition. We couldn't run the floor, no layups. It was a slow halfcourt game for us.''

Sherell Neal, the Aggies' leading scorer with a 14.1 average, finished with 13 points but missed her first five shots and didn't score until six minutes into the second half. By then, Fresno State was up 41-31.

The Bulldogs didn't ease up, either. Amundsen hit a 3-pointer and Ross drove for a layup, pushing the lead to 46-31 with 13:02 remaining. It was 55-35 at the 8-minute mark when Wilson hit another from outside.

Fresno State trailed 15-7 midway through the first half but looked like a different team in the second-half burst.

``We just took our time,'' said Ross, who made two 3-pointers as the Bulldogs opened the second half with an 11-4 run. ``We were much more patient with our offense. We got it to the wings and started knocking shots down.''

Fresno State won a league regular-season title for the first time this spring, aided by a dramatic finish two weeks ago in Las Cruces when the Bulldogs won 85-84 in overtime. Hayley Munro banked in a 70-footer at the final horn to beat the Aggies, and Fresno State went on to share the WAC championship with Boise State.

The only thing missing from Fresno's historic season was the school's first NCAA berth, and Wilson helped fix that by hitting all four of her second-half field goal attempts.

The Bulldogs don't care where they end up in the NCAA bracket. They're just thrilled to be going.

``I'm going to be nervous, but I'm not going to let anyone see that,'' Wilson said.