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Publication: The Collegian, , California State University - Fresno, Fresno, CA
The Fresno State women’s basketball team clinched a share of the Mountain West regular season championship thanks to the late game heroics by forward Maddi Utti, whose late steal and game-winning shot in the final seconds gave the Bulldogs a 78-76 win over San Jose State.
The game’s final minute was a back and forth affair between Fresno State (21-4, 14-0 MW) and San Jose State (15-9, 9-4 MW) and Utti was just one of many heroes for the ‘Dogs on Wednesday.
With 1:19 left in the game, San Jose State guard Fieme’a Hafoka knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer to give the Spartans a two-point lead, 76-74. After a turnover by Hanna Cavinder, the Bulldogs’ undefeated MW record was hanging the balance.
Down two points with only 36.9 seconds left in the game, the Bulldogs had three fouls to give and aggressively defended the inbounds passes from the Spartans. After every failed attempt the Bulldogs would use one of their fouls and on the fourth inbound with no fouls to give, Utti came up clutch for the ‘Dogs.
“We only had one foul, so we felt that we had to foul to get them on the line if we needed to,” Fresno State head coach Jaime White said. “We did not foul on the last one and Maddi got the steal.”
As Spartan point guard Ayzhiana Basallo’s inbound pass was intercepted by Utti, she dished a pass to Hanna Cavinder who passed the ball to center Wytalla Motta in transition, and Motta hit the game-tying layup with 25 seconds left.
After a key defensive stop and only 3.6 seconds left, the Bulldogs called a 30-second timeout to draw a final play to take back the lead, but first they needed to avoid the...