![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-13-NG-WBB-vs-Chicago-State-34.jpeg\")
Jaisa Gamble is one of the players who followed Ryan McCarthy from Alaska Anchorage. (Photo credit: Fresno State Athletics)<\/p>\n\u201cThe biggest challenge is taking over a new job in general,\u201d McCarthy told The IX Basketball. \u201cBecause you have to start over a little bit. What has happened here, is we had to build it up from scratch and sign a bunch of players pretty late.\u201d<\/p>\n
While UAA is in Division II, its athletics teams are the main sporting entertainment in town, if not the entire state. Coach McCarthy noted the Fresno community also embraces its collegiate teams, albeit it in a warmer climate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were in a similar market to Division I from a publicity standpoint,\u201d he said about UAA. \u201cFrom the basketball side of things, it\u2019s been similar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaisa Gamble is one of the players who followed Ryan McCarthy from Alaska Anchorage. (Photo credit: Fresno State Athletics)<\/p>\n
It helped that five players made the trek south with McCarthy: Emilia Long<\/a>, Ashlyn Rean<\/a>, Jaisa Gamble<\/a>, Hedda K\u00f6ehne, and Kenzie Sirowich.<\/p>\n \u201cIt meant a lot to me,\u201d McCarthy said of the players coming with him. \u201cWe didn\u2019t sit down with individual players with a sales pitch. It was an unspoken thing that we came down here and they still wanted to be a part of it. To me, it was ingrained in the culture of our team, where it is like a family. We were moving the family down from Anchorage to Fresno, but I am forever indebted to those five ladies for making that move. We probably would be in the mix for a national championship if we had stayed there.\u201d<\/p>\n McCarthy\u2019s wife, Jenna \u2014 a former star at Florida Gulf Coast \u2014 also continued to be on his coaching staff.<\/p>\n Want more women\u2019s hockey content? Subscribe to The Ice Garden! The staff of The Ice Garden has paved the way for women\u2019s hockey coverage from the college ranks to international competitions. Of course, that includes in-depth coverage of the PWHL too. For a limited time, free signups at The Ice Garden can sample all the work they do. Check it out, sign up now!<\/p>\n Only sophomore guard Danae Powell<\/a> and junior forward Avery Watkins return from the 2024-25 Fresno State team that went 19-15 and 8-10 in the Mountain West Conference. Mia Jacobs and her 18.3 points per game transferred to Oregon, leaving much room for new scorers.<\/p>\n The Bulldogs brought in transfers Morelia Chavez from Florida State, Indiya Clarke from Wofford, Djessira Diawara from San Jose State and Diarrah Sissoko from New Mexico State.<\/p>\n This season, the team is 6-5 to conclude its non-conference schedule. FSU lost by double figures at power conference teams BYU and Washington, but came to life at the Big Easy Classic in New Orleans. Powell scored 18 points in a 15-point win over New Mexico State, and FSU followed with a 13-point victory over Louisiana-Lafayette. The Bulldogs are holding opponents to a meager 23% shooting from three-point range, which is sixth in Division I.<\/p>\n Long leading Bulldogs in scoring<\/p>\n Long has adjusted to the transition well and scored a career-best 23 points against Pepperdine. The 5\u20199 grad student from Port Angeles, Wash., was the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year last season and scored 12.2 points with four steals per game. She began her career at Peninsula College, a two-year junior school, then played both basketball and soccer at Cal Poly Humboldt, a Division II program. <\/p>\n \u201cI have been everywhere,\u201d Long told The IX Basketball. \u201cI started from the bottom to [make] it to the top. I have really enjoyed this process and journey. I have seen what all of the different levels look like. To grow as an athlete and as a human, that is something I really enjoy being a part of. This is the best basketball that I have been a part of and playing as an individual, as well. I have never seen so much growth as I have under McCarthy\u2019s coaching. I really enjoy playing for him and the coaches. I am excited to see where our year takes us. I think it\u2019s a process and I just have to trust that.\u201d<\/p>\n Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women\u2019s Sports Daily<\/p>\n We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women\u2019s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women\u2019s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!<\/p>\n Long is tied with Rean, the sophomore forward from New Zealand, for the team high 12.7 points per game. Rean went down with an injury in a recent game, and McCarthy mentioned how proud of his team he is for excelling through adversity. <\/p>\n \u201cWe are playing with a roster that we did not anticipate,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are learning about ourselves. My hope is that they continue to grow and develop. If we can establish that for this year and build some of the ladies that don\u2019t get much time, I think we will be just fine.\u201d<\/p>\n Marr emerging as freshman<\/p>\n Freshman guard Ava Marr <\/a>already owns three Mountain West Freshman of the Week awards. The Brier, Wash., native scored nine points to lead FSU over the Ragin\u2019 Cajuns of University of Louisiana Lafayette. More recently, she scored 20 \u2014 with six three pointers \u2014 to pace the team over Chicago State, 81-62.<\/p>\n \u201cAva is a really good kid,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cShe is tough and a coach\u2019s kid, so her IQ is high. She brings a skill set to this team that we didn\u2019t have with her shooting ability. Teams are starting to key in on her a little bit, so that has made her grow. From day one to where she is now, she is a completely different person and player, and I am really proud of her.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaisa Gamble\u2019s long road back to Division I<\/p>\n Gamble, who is from San Bruno, Calif., has witnessed her career come full circle. She sat on the bench as a freshman at UC San Diego in 2021-22 \u2014 the Tritons\u2019 second year in Division I. Now, the senior is starting most of the games and scoring nine points per game for the Bulldogs.<\/p>\n \u201cI started at DI, then went to Laney, which is a community college,\u201d Gamble told The IX Basketball. \u201cI spent two years at Alaska Anchorage under Coach McCarthy, and now I am back at Division I. I really enjoyed the journey. Over the course of the past five years, I have seen a lot of growth in myself. I started at the DI level playing zero minutes, now I am back at the DI level, playing 38, so it has been a crazy journey. <\/p>\n \u201cThe main difference is that every night is a true competition,\u201d Gamble continued. \u201cAt the Division II level, especially with the team we had last year, there were nights where our average game could pull out a win, and here, we really have to be on top of our game every night. But there is never a disparity where we don\u2019t have a chance, so if we bring our best, our best is enough. I think this process is getting to what our best is.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bulldogs open up Mountain West play with San Diego State and Wyoming at home this week. They will play at UNLV on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n The IX Basketball, a 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball newsroom powered by The Next
In case you missed it, The Ice Garden<\/a> is now part of The IX Sports family!<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_6618.jpeg\")
Emilia Long is enjoying a career year at Fresno State. (Photo credit: Fresno State Athletics)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2025-12-13-NG-WBB-vs-Chicago-State-3.jpeg\")
Jaisa Gamble drives to the basket in a win over Chicago State. (Photo credit: Fresno State Athletics)<\/p>\n
The IX Basketball<\/a>: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports<\/a>. 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe biggest challenge is taking over a new job in general,\u201d McCarthy told The IX Basketball. \u201cBecause you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[53464,43010,53465,53466,112,114,113,742,53467,53468,53469,53470,13389,29615,53471],"class_list":{"0":"post-97808","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-alaska-anchorage","9":"tag-ashlyn-rean","10":"tag-danae-powell","11":"tag-emilia-long","12":"tag-fresno","13":"tag-fresno-headlines","14":"tag-fresno-news","15":"tag-fresno-state","16":"tag-fresno-state-mountain-west","17":"tag-hedda-koehne","18":"tag-jaisa-gamble","19":"tag-kenzie-sirowich","20":"tag-mountain-west","21":"tag-mountain-west-conference","22":"tag-ryan-mccarthy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}