MOSCOW, Idaho - The University of Idaho women's basketball team opened its Western Athletic Conference play with a spirited hard-fought loss to Fresno State, falling, 84-75, Thursday.

With the loss Idaho falls to 3-9 on the season and 0-1 in the WAC. Fresno State improves to 8-6 and 1-0 in the league.

"If you look at it we played pretty well, we played better than pretty well in fact," Idaho coach Mike Divilbiss said. "You have to measure yourself by what you should accomplish with the abilities you have. What we did tonight was take (Tierre) Wilson and (Chantella) Perera out of the game and make the rest of the team beat us and they did."

"If you look at our last two basketball games we have improved so much, as a program we are excited about where we are as a team," Divilbiss said. "If you look at it what did us in tonight was about a three minute stretch where we got some good looks at the basket and the ball just didn't go in. We shot 48 percent in the second half, though, you can???t make them all. When you play someone of this caliber the line between winner and loser is very fine. This game came down to three possessions where we didn't score and they did."

Paced by Sara Dennehy who had 17, four Vandals scored in double-digits on the night. Joining Dennehy in double-digits were Liz Witte (16), Ticey Westbrooks (15) and Katie Madison (14). Andrea Roberson had a game-high 19 points for the Bulldogs, who had five players in double-figures.

Idaho controlled the tempo of the game in the opening minutes. The Vandals rolled out to an early 13-6 lead as Witte had six points in that stretch, scoring in back-to-back possessions at one point. The Bulldogs fought back cutting the gap to 13-11 on a jumper by Paige Diggs with 14:49 left in the half.

"I'm feeling much more comfortable out there, and starting to let the game come to me," Witte said. "The game is slowing down and I feel like I am playing smarter out there."

The Vandals then exploded on another run over the next 4:38 pushing their lead to 24-16. Dennehy played a big part in that run as she had five points and a steal. With just over 10 minutes to play in the half Fresno State began to cut into Idaho's lead.

The Bulldogs went on a run of their own in the later stages of the half, as they went on a 20-12 run over 6:40 of the half. The Bulldog run tied the game at 36. Roberson had two big 3-point baskets in that stretch.

The teams began to trade baskets down the stretch of the half, but a 3-pointer by Witte gave Idaho the 44-41 lead at intermission.

The second half was a story of second-chance points. Fresno State had 10 second-chance points in the second half and held the Vandals to five. The Bulldogs were also better on the glass in the second half as they out rebounded the home team 21-9.

Idaho was paced in the second half by their freshman post, Madison who had 10 points in the period. Kendra Walker-Roche also had 10 points in the half for the Bulldogs.

Fresno State opened the half on a 20-12 run, making the score, 61-58, in favor of the visiting squad with 10:08 left in the game. The Bulldogs never trailed again in the remainder of the contest.  Idaho fought back cutting the lead to as little as five, at 65-60, with 8:41 to go but couldn't come all the way back.

The Vandals will be back in action Saturday, when they take on the University of Nevada Wolf Pack. Tip off is set for 7:00 p.m.