FRESNO, Calif. ? There was defense, defense, and then a little more defense on Saturday, as Idaho's women's basketball team held Fresno State 20 points below its scoring average and won 55-52 to move to 3-1 in the Western Athletic Conference for the second time in school history.

“It's a huge win for our program at this point, but there are still a lot of games to go in the WAC,” Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. “Our players know what they're capable of and any time you can go into the defending champion's home and come away with a victory, you know you've done something special.”

The University of Idaho (6-9, 3-1 WAC), the team picked to finish dead last in the conference during the preseason, used stifling defense and key free throw shooting to shock the defending WAC champion Fresno State Bulldogs (11-5, 2-1), the team picked second in the preseason coaches' and media polls.

Fresno State entered the contest ranked 38th in the nation with a 72.7 scoring average, but had just 16 points at halftime ? its lowest halftime total of the year. The Bulldogs were also just three-of-19 (.158) from 3-point range in the first half and finished the game 11-of-35 (.314) from beyond the arc.

“We did a good job of staying with our contain and not over-helping against their shooters,” Newlee said. “You never know against a team that shoots as well as they do and puts up as many three's as they do.”

Another key stat was free throws. Idaho compiled just 15 personal fouls and sent Fresno State to the line only eight times, which led to just three points. The Bulldogs entered the game averaging 13.1 made free throws per game.

The Bulldogs used a flurry of 3-pointers over the final 10 minutes to pull within double-digits after Idaho had extended its lead to as many as 15 points, but the Vandals knocked down their free throws in the closing minute and withstood a furious last-minute rally to earn the win.

“I have to give credit to them,” Newlee said. “They hit some very deep three's under huge pressure to get them all the way back.”

Sophomore Yinka Olorunnife dominated the glass all day long and finished with a 14-point, 14-rebound effort, in leading Idaho to its best rebounding performance of the year at 44 as a team. Freshman Shaena Kuehu came up with yet another solid performance, with 12 points, three rebounds, two steals and a block. Both Olorunnife and Kuehu have now scored in double-digits in five consecutive games.

“I think the defensive rebounding that Yinka did in the last four minutes was absolutely crucial to our win,” Newlee said. “The ball went up and every time it seemed like she came down with the big rebound. That's pure effort, positioning and hard work and without that, we lose the game.”

Junior point guard Charlotte Otero added nine points, five rebounds, three assists and one steal, while junior Derisa Taleni scored eight points, four rebounds and two steals and sophomore Alana Curtis scored eight points and pulled down a career-high eight rebounds.

“There's no question that this was a total team effort,” Newlee said. “Everyone stepped in and played within themselves. They knew what they needed to do offensively and defensively and nobody tried to do too much.”

Idaho shot .345 on the game, including 10-of-24 (.417) in the second half, while Fresno State was just .306 overall after shooting 20 percent in the first half. Idaho out-rebounded the Bulldogs 44-41 and held the advantage in paint points (18-12), second-chance points (16-11) and bench points (10-2).

Idaho's defense made things tough for the Bulldogs in the first half, as the team ran a mix of zone and man and didn't allow Fresno to work the ball inside at all. The result was a lot of deep, contested 3-pointers. On the flip side, Idaho's offense shared the ball and ended up with open looks and lay-ups. The result was an Idaho lead that reached as many as 11 points before settling on the 24-16 halftime score.

Just like Thursday's win over San Jose State, Idaho took a double-digit halftime lead kept the pressure on in the second half. The Vandals withstood an early rush that saw its lead dwindle to five at 29-24 with 17:14 remaining, but Idaho answered with a 16-6 run that gave it the biggest lead of the game at 15 points.

“That was really big to hit some shots early in the (second) half and not just let them immediately make some threes, get back in it and turn the tide,” Newlee said. “We made some big three-pointers, got to the rim and got past their pressure and I thought that was huge.”

With the score 45-30 and 10 minutes remaining, Fresno State began its furious comeback. The Bulldogs hit six of their final 11 3-pointers, the last of which slimmed Idaho's lead down to just one point at 53-52 with seven seconds to go, but Olorunnife drained a pair of free throws with four seconds left to give Idaho a three-point lead and the Vandal ?D' responded with yet another stop, as Fresno didn't even manage to get a shot off to tie.

“Those were huge free throws,” Newlee said. “Shaena, Charlotte and definitely Yinka's two to make it a three-point game ? I'm proud of them. We've been working on the free throws and it's really starting to pay off like I told them it would.”

Fresno State's leading scorer on the day was Bailey Amundson, who hit six-of-12 from beyond the arc and finished with 18 points and six rebounds, while Hayley Munro scored 14 and Jalessa Ross dropped 10, but the rest of the team had just 10 points, combined.

With their first four WAC games behind them in just a seven-day period, Idaho will now have 13 days off to prepare for Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters will come to Moscow on Friday, Jan. 23, followed by New Mexico State on Sunday, Jan. 25.