Seattle University handed Fresno State its first loss, 85-84, Thursday at KeyArena in front of Lakers great Elgin Baylor, who was on hand for ceremony to dedicate the court in his honor.

Sophomore forward Paul George and freshman center Greg Smith of Edison each had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs (2-1). Mike Ladd, a former high school star from the Seattle area, missed 6 of 7 shots and finished with just two points in 32 minutes in his homecoming.

It was a combination of Seattle's full-court press and Fresno State turnovers that decided the game. The Bulldogs committed 20 turnovers, including the last by guard Steven Shepp as he drove the lane for a potential winning shot in the final seconds.

Adrian Wiggins recruited two more guards in the November signing period, which is good thing for the Fresno State women's basketball team's motion offense.

But what the Bulldogs really need is a couple good bigs.

They might have one in 6-2 junior Veronica Wilson, a transfer from Boston College who's sitting out this season. The next tallest is freshman Jeanna, a project that might take three years to develop. After that, Fresno State has no one taller than 6-1 Hayley Munro, who has one season left after this one.

What's become obvious is Fresno State's height handicap against the good teams from the better conferences -- like USC, Cal, Stanford, TCU.

Emmanuel Lewis threw for 189 yards, DeAndre Boughton returned a fumble 58 yards for a touchdown and Fresno City hammered host Reedley 34-6 Saturday in the Battle of the Pump to force a three-way tie for first place in the Valley Conference.

The Rams, Tigers and either Sequoias or Sierra finished at 3-2. Sierra was playing at Sequoias in the late game.

If Sierra wins, Reedley will advance to the Northern California championship to face No. 1 San Mateo next Saturday in the Bulldog Bowl in San Mateo. Should COS win, it would go to the NorCal championship.

Fresno City was knockd out of contention with West Hills' 30-27 upset of San Joaquin

Fresno State beat UC Santa Barbara 84-76 Friday, one of six Western Athletic Conference teams that opened the season with victories this night.

In the shocker, Utah State downed Utah of the Mountain West Conference 67-58 in Logan, Utah. Louisiana Tech hammered Centenary 88-41 at home; Boise State ripped visiting Western Oregon 76-40; host Nevada crushed Cal State-Monterey Bay 63-39; and New Mexico State took care of Cal State-Northridge 79-72 on the road.

The lone loss by a WAC team was San Jose State's 79-77 setback to visiting Cal State-Fullerton.

Don't expect third-ranked Fresno Pacific to run away with its second straight Golden State Athletic Conference men's basketball championship this season.

The Sunbirds will have their hands full with No. 8 Concordia of Irvine.

Concordia, an NAIA school, gave UCLA a scare before losing 62-61 and beat Division I UC Irvine 57-56, both on the road. In the UCLA game, the Eagles missed two jump shots to win it in the final five seconds. Fresno Pacific also showed it can compete with the big boys in a 78-67 setback to crosstown rival Fresno State.

"Both of those \[NAIA\] teams have some good D-I players," Bulldogs coach Steve Cleveland said. "They're going to win a lot of games."

Fresno State junior guard Jaleesa Ross can't wait to play USC on Sunday at the Galen Center, site of last season's NCAA tournament regional where the Bulldogs were hammered 70-47 by a No. 12 Cal team in a first-round game.

"Our performance wasn't the best and I want to redeem myself," Ross told me Wednesday after practice for Friday's season opener at UC Santa Barbara.

Ross (right, after earning MVP at the 2009 WAC tournament) scored just eight points against Cal on 3 of 14 shooting, one of the few times she failed to reach double figures.

Besides returning to the Galen Center, Ross is excited about meeting someone she's looked up to for years. USC is now coached by Michael Cooper, the former Los Angeles

Fresno State is getting some love on the national front in women's basketball after winning the Western Athletic Conference and making the NCAA tournament the past two seasons.

The Bulldogs received three votes in the Associated Press preseason poll and one in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

Breaking into the top 25 is Fresno State's aim, but a tough preseason schedule might prevent that. The Bulldogs open the season with three road games, starting Friday at UC Santa Barbara before heading to USC on Sunday and Texas Christian next Wednesday.

For the first time in six years Reedley and Fresno City colleges will meet on the last day of the Valley Conference season to decide the championship and the right to play for the Northern California title.

Game time is 1 p.m. Saturday at Reedley High.

The Tigers are 3-1 and alone in first place. Fresno City is 2-2 and tied for second with Sequoias, Sierra and San Joaquin Delta.

Should Fresno City win, it could result in a four-way deadlock for first.

Here's where it gets tricky. The champion will be decided by the tie-breaker; whichever

The Fresno Monsters will get a boost this week when forward Chad Lowell returns to the lineup after recovering from a broken arm.

Lowell was leading the team in scoring (7 goals, 6 assists in 5 games) when he was injured in early October.

First-place Fresno hits the road this week to face the last-place Arizona Redhawks Friday-Sunday. The Monsters play at Long Beach and Valencia next week, then return to Selland Arena for a big series Nov. 27-29 against against Idaho, coached by former Fresno Falcons head man John Olver.

Fresno Pacific's volleyball team is looking to close out a perfect regular season when it travels to The Master's Thursday and hosts Westmont Saturday in the final Golden State Athletic Conference tests, and Nov. 19 against Cal State Bakersfield at home in a non-conference match.

The defending champion Sunbirds (29-0, 18-0) earned the NAIA's No. 1 ranking for the 34th consecutive week with all 24 first-place votes.

Pairings for the NAIA tournament will be announced Sunday afternoon. The Sunbirds are the favorite to win their third straight championship.