'Dogs wild card could be freshman Davalos

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The Fresno State women's basketball team has won nine straight games. And if they hope to make it to an amazing eight straight NCAA tournament appearances? The wild card could be a redshirt freshman from Mexico that'll determine the 'Dogs fate.

Bego Faz Davalos first made a splash in the 'Dogs second game of the year against CSU Stanislaus. It was also her second career game. Davalos finished with 19 points on 9-12 shooting. But that wasn't against D-1 competition.

Since then, her production is up and down as you might expect from a young player. Her stock is back to being up, up, up. Especially after her last two performances which includes this past Saturday against Nevada and Wednesday night against San Jose State.

Our camera caught a moment with about 12 minutes left to play where head coach Jaime White took Davalos out of the game and talked to the 6' 3" center after it looked like she was getting a little flustered. After the win against the Spartans, Action News asked coach White about that exchange.

"Yeah, we had a quick prayer and then everything was fine. You know, it's just you know when it gets frustrating, I felt like Bego was getting those rebounds or getting touches inside and then kicking them out, and we need to kick them out to shooters and make sure those shooters are ready," said White.

"I think that I really feel like better when my teammates, they do the same. Like, they push at the same time that I push. I really feel better," added Davalos.

"With Bego, we started her when we were in Australia. We started her early in the season. One, because we lost Jacinta. And we felt like we needed that height and that presence in there. The one thing we didn't really know about Bego was how fast she was and how she was able to move laterally and up and down the floor, and I think that's been something that's really been helpful all around," said White.

A closer look at Davalos' impact this season for the 'Dogs shows the redshirt freshman is averaging 7.9 points per game and 7.8 rebounds per game. The production from the defensive side is impressive with Davalos averaging 3.1 blocks per contest. She's started eight out of 16 games this year.