Fresno State head coach Jaime White is no stranger to Wyoming basketball, 7220 Sports reports.
Before taking the helm at Fresno State, White spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Wyoming (2003-06) under Joe Legerski, helping lead the Cowgirls to a 21-9 record and a WNIT victory over Oregon State in her final season in Laramie.
During her tenure, White helped develop standout players such as Hanna Zavecz, Jodi Bolerjack, and Megan McGuffey. The year after she left for a head coaching job at Northern Colorado, the Cowgirls would go on to finish second in the Mountain West Conference and win the WNIT Championship with a 72-56 victory over Wisconsin in front of a packed Arena-Auditorium.
Now in her 11th season at Fresno State, White is guiding the Bulldogs through a deep run in the Mountain West Tournament. After finishing the regular season with 17 wins, Fresno State has added two more victories in Las Vegas, including a 54-52 upset over No. 3 seed Colorado State in the quarterfinals.
“You always want to do better than you did last year,” White said. “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.”
Despite finishing 8-10 in conference play, the Bulldogs were competitive throughout the season, losing four games by 10 points or fewer—including a 68-59 loss to Wyoming in early January.
Wyoming’s Mountain West Player of the Year, Allyson Fertig, led the Cowgirls with 21 points in their last matchup, while Tess Barnes added 24 points on 4-of-8 shooting from three. Fresno State’s leading scorer, Mia Jacobs, was held to just seven points, well below her season average.
White acknowledged the challenge of facing Fertig and Wyoming’s physical play.
“Fertig is as much of a player of the year as anyone,” White said. “She draws two and three defenders every night. She gets hung on, banged up, and she just keeps going. I think what we’ll do is go back, watch film, and do what worked best. We do have some size on the bench, and it’s time for some of that to step up.”
White has previous tournament history against Wyoming, defeating the Cowgirls in the Mountain West Tournament in both 2015 and 2017. However, Wyoming turned the tables in 2021, with Quinn Weidemann and the Cowgirls shutting down Fresno State’s high-scoring Cavinder twins to secure a 59-56 victory in the championship game. That win earned Wyoming just its second NCAA Tournament appearance in school history.
As White prepares to face Wyoming once again, she believes her team is ready for the challenge.
“I think our kids are hungry and ready,” she said. “So, we’ll be ready.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Mountain Time, and the game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network.
