USF (4-2) at Fresno State (3-2)
Wednesday, Nov. 30 | 7 p.m.
Save Mart Center | Fresno, Calif.   
Series Record: 17-15 (USF)
Last Meeting: 79-73 (Fresno St.), 3/19/15 (WNIT)
Video: Mountain West Network
Audio: USFDons.com (Livestream) (George Devine)
Live Stats
Complete Game Notes [PDF]
 
Coming off a split of its two games at the Cal Classic in Berkeley this past weekend, the USF women's basketball will be looking for its third consecutive win over a Mountain West opponent - as well as its first road win of the year - when the Dons travel to take on Fresno State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Save Mart Center.
 
Senior Rachel Howard led USF (4-2) with 10 points in a loss to Cal this past week and 16 points in a win over Western Carolina to earn a spot on the Cal Classic All-Tournament Team. However, it was juniors Michaela Rakova and Anna Seilund, who turned in the best performances the last time the Dons met Fresno State, a 79-73 Bulldogs win in the first round of the 2015 WNIT. Rakova had 16 points and six rebounds in the defeat, while Seilund added 11 points off the bench when both were freshmen.
 
The Dons will be hoping to put together another all around effort after running away with a 21-point victory over Western Carolina in the Cal Classic consolation game. However, USF will have to find its way around a stout Fresno State defense.
 
The Bulldogs (3-2) are only allowing 54.8 points per game this year, which ranks 32^nd in the country. Fresno State has accomplished this in part by defending the rim, averaging 6.6 blocks per game, good for the 12^th-most in the NCAA. The vast majority of those have come from the team's leading scorer, Bezo Faz Davalos, who has not only registered 25 of the team's 33 blocked shots, but is also averaging a team-best 15.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
 
Candice White (13.4 ppg) is the only other Bulldog averaging double figures.
 
Fresno State is coming off a pair of wins in the Loyola Marymount Thanksgiving Tournament over Belmont (62-53) and UC Irvine (63-45).
 
Meanwhile, Howard (14.5 ppg) enters the week as the Dons' top scorer, while sophomore Alicia Roufosse (5.6 ppg / 3.4 rpg) and freshman Nia Alexander (5.2 ppg / 1.0 apg) have started to emerge as key support pieces for first-year head coach Molly Goodenbour coming off the bench in the early going. Roufosse tallied a career-high 10 points against Western Carolina, while Alexander scored seven points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out a pair of assists in 19 minutes against Cal.         
 
Looking ahead, the Dons will travel to North Dakota on Dec. 3 before returning for a Dec. 6 contest against San Jose State that will be played as the front end of a doubleheader at historic Kezar Pavilion - the former home of USF's three men's basketball national titles (1949, 1955, 1956) - with the men hosting San Francisco State immediately following. With a trip to Cal Poly on Dec. 17, the Dons won't play at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center until Dec. 21 when they host UC Davis.
 
SERIES SNIPPETS
Fresno State has won five of the last six meetings, including a 79-73 victory over the Dons in the first round of the 2015 WNIT. Then-freshman Michaela Rakova score 16 points and grabbed six rebounds in the loss, while fellow frosh Anna Seilund tallied 11 points. USF's last win in the series came the year prior when the Dons rolled to a 76-47 victory in Fresno in 2013-14. The longest winning streak of the series, which stretches back to 1976-77, belongs to USF, who took nine in a row between 1977-78 and 1980-81, back when they would play a home and home each season. USF is 7-9 playing at Fresno State all-time.