Fresno State’s Jaime White All-Too Familiar With Wyoming Hoops

LAS VEGAS, Nev., -- Jaime White is all-too familiar with this Wyoming program.

Fresno State's head coach served as an assistant under Joe Legerski from 2003-06. She helped lead the Cowgirls to a 21-9 record and a WNIT victory over Oregon State during her final season in Laramie.

Get our free mobile app

She guided young Wyoming standouts like Hanna Zavecz, Jodi Bolerjack, Megan McGuffey and others.

The year after she accepted the head job at Northern Colorado, the Cowgirls would finish second in the Mountain West Conference standings and take fans on a wild ride through the postseason, including wins over Missouri, Oregon and a triple-overtime thriller against Kansas State.

Wyoming would claim a WNIT title with a 72-56 win over Wisconsin in front of  a capacity crowd of 15,462 inside the Arena-Auditorium.

White got a first-hand look at that squad in early November. During her second game on the sidelines, the Cowgirls handed the Bears a lopsided 76-46 defeat. UNC would win just five games all season.

A 31-point setback against the No. 24 Cowgirls came the following fall, too.

White would eventually get her revenge in 2012.

Lauren Oosdyke netted a game-high 16 points, and D'shara Strange and Lindsay Mallon each each added 15 in a 71-63 opening round road upset in the WNIT.

"Everyone also has to understand that teams playing at this time of year have won at a high level," Legerski said postgame. "I give a great deal of credit to Northern Colorado. They came out and played with a great deal of energy."

The same can be said for White's current squad.

The Bulldogs racked up 17 victories during the regular season. They've added two more inside the Thomas and Mack Center, knocking off San Jose State on Sunday and stunning No. 3 seed Colorado State 54-52 last night in the quarterfinals of the Mountain West Tournament.

This is the first trip to the semifinals in four years.

"You always want to do better than you did last year," said White, who is in her 11th season in California's Central Valley. "I thought our seed (No. 6) was really good. We worked really hard to get the seed we had ... So, I'm really proud of them. I do think many times we're the smallest -- and a lot of times the youngest team-- there's a lot of fifth-year seniors. There's a lot of older kids in our league.

"I thought our kids have just really ignored some of that and just stepped up and played together. And obviously, as a coach, you love to see that."

Fresno State finished 8-10 in league play. Four of those losses came by 10 points or less, including a 68-59 setback against Wyoming in the lone meeting of the season back in early January.

Tess Barnes was 4-of-8 from deep and finished with a team-best 24 points that afternoon inside the Save Mart Center. Newly crowned Mountain West Player of the Year Allyson Fertig netted 21 more on 9-of-11 shooting. Emily Mellema added eight.

Leading scorer Mia Jacobs was limited to just seven points in that loss, more than 11 below her average. The 6-foot-2 junior forward connected on just 3-of-12 shots. Mariah Elohim led the Bulldogs with 18. Maria Konstantinidou pitched in with 11. Kylee Fox netted 10. The latter two are just sophomores.

The visiting Cowgirls won the battle of the boards, 36-27. They shot nearly 51% from the field and scored 40 in the paint.

Fertig was a major reason for that, hauling in seven rebounds.

How does Fresno State plan to rein her in tonight in Sin City?

"Fertig is as (much of a) player of the year as anyone," White said. "I've been so impressed with her. I love her demeanor. She draws two and three defenders every night. She gets hung on, banged up and she just keeps going. I really think she's done a good job.

"I think what we'll do is, we'll go back, watch film and we'll do the thing that worked the best. And, again, 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."

White's also has a history against the Cowgirls inside this very building.

The student schooled the teacher, handing Legerski's 2015 squad a 74-66 loss in the second round. It happened again in 2017. That was a 10-point victory in the opener.

New Wyoming head coach Gerald Mattinson had different plans in '21.

Led by the all-conference Cavinder twins, Haley and Hanna, the 'Dogs marched into the title game fresh of an upset of top-ranked New Mexico. Despite netting nearly 80 points a night, Quinn Weidemann and the Cowgirls locked down Fresno State's dynamic duo, limiting them to just a dozen points each in a 59-56 loss.

Wyoming danced into the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in school history. White's Bulldogs were relegated to the WNIT.

How will the next chapter read?

"I think our kids are hungry and ready," she said. "So, we'll be ready."

Tipoff is slated for 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.

- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players