Fresno State holds off WSU with Parrish’s late 3-pointer

Aritta Lane scored 23 points and pulled down nine rebounds and the Fresno State Bulldogs notched the best start in school history after a 65-61 non-conference win over the Washington State Cougars Thursday night at Fresno, Calif.

Lane scored 17 of her points during the first half when the Bulldogs (6-0) opened a 30-19 lead.

But the Cougars (3-3) opened the second half with a 29-18 run, capped by an Adrian Ferguson jumper, to tie the score at 48 with 7 minutes, 22 seconds to play.

Kate Benz’s 3-pointer with 5:30 left gave Washington State its biggest lead at 56-52. Fresno State scored the next seven points to take a 59-56 lead with 2:40 to play.

Stephanie Singer hit a 3 to tie it and then a free throw to put WSU ahead 60-59 with 1:10 left.

Fresno’s Amy Parrish hit her first 3-pointer of the season with 45 seconds left to put the Bulldogs ahead to stay.

Charmaine Jones led Washington State with 16 points, while Singer had 12 points and nine assists. Benz had 11 points and seven rebounds, and Ferguson had eight points and eight rebounds.

Parrish finished with 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists for Fresno State.

Fresno State’s six-game winning streak is the first since 1990.

Top 25

(7) Notre Dame 65, Dayton 39: Charel Allen scored 14 points and Breona Gray and Melissa D’Amico added 12 apiece to lead the Fighting Irish (8-1) over the Flyers (4-4) at Dayton, Ohio… . (12) Michigan St. 85, E. Illinois 45: At East Lansing, Mich., Rene Haynes had 18 points and eight rebounds in her first start this season to lead the Spartans (7-1) to a victory over the Panthers (3-3)… . (13) Texas Tech 79, Oral Roberts 46: At Lubbock, Texas, Cisti Greenwalt had 18 points, 14 rebounds and blocked seven shots to lead the Lady Raiders (5-1) to a victory over the Golden Eagles (3-2).

Western Kentucky 85, (14) Vanderbilt 77: At Bowling Green, Ky., Tiffany Porter-Talbert scored 24 points and the Hilltoppers (3-3) rallied to upset the Commodores (6-1)… . (21) Purdue 69, (15) DePaul 61: At West Lafayette, Ind., Katie Gearlds scored 21 points for the Boilermakers (5-2), who tripped up the Blue Demons (6-1)… . (23) TCU 81, Oklahoma 65: At Fort Worth, Texas, Sandora Irvin had a career-high 32 points and 18 rebounds to lead the Horned Frogs (7-2) to a victory over the Sooners (4-3).