Jenn Wirth, LeeAnne Wirth help No. 11 Gonzaga women down Portland 56-42
With another strong second half Saturday afternoon, the Gonzaga women put the finishing touches on the best regular season in program history.
Down one point at intermission, the visiting Zags put on a clinic after the break to beat Portland 56-42 and win their 28th game in 30 tries.
That’s one game better than the previous record set last year, and sends the Zags into the West Coast Conference Tournament on a five-game winning streak.
The Zags also finished 17-1 in the WCC, tying the record set by many of the same players who repeated that feat on Saturday at the Chiles Center in Portland.
GU finished four games ahead of San Diego and BYU, who will be on the other side of the bracket in the WCC Tournament. Portland, which took GU to the limit in their first meeting, finished fourth and could face the Zags in the semifinals on March 9 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
Saturday’s win didn’t come easily. GU trailed 24-23 at intermission after poor shooting (9 for 29 from the floor) in the first half.
But as they’ve done several times in the last few weeks, the Zags seized the momentum in the third quarter.
This time, they did it despite an off night from Jill Townsend, who finished with six points and six rebounds.
“We were talking the other day about how we don’t have any player who feels like they’re carrying the load,” Zags head coach Lisa Fortier said after the game.
Jenn and LeeAnne Wirth carried the day in the paint, scoring 14 points each and combining for 17 rebounds as the Zags gradually pulled away in the second half.
“We didn’t follow the game plan very well in the first half, and the second half was much more like what we were trying to accomplish,” Fortier said.
“The difference was that we defended the paint much better and we didn’t settle for crazy early shots.”
The Zags struggled on offense in the first half, including 3-for-10 shooting from long range.
That was a far sight better, however, than the teams’ first meeting, when GU was down by 20 points early in the second quarter before pulling out a 62-57 win.
This time the hole was never more than four points, and GU crawled out of it early in the second half. A layup from Jenn Wirth gave the Zags the lead for good, at 25-24.
GU led 40-35 going into the fourth, but took control with a 3-pointer from Kayleigh Truong, another layup from Jenn Wirth and two foul shots from LeeAnne Wirth to give the Zags a 46-35 advantage with 5:45 to play.
Portland (18-11, 11-7) got to within eight with 3 minutes left, but GU pulled away from there. The final score was GU biggest lead.
The Zags shot 45% (14 for 31) in the second half while holding Portland to 30% (7 for 24).
Haylee Andrews had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Portland, which had its four-game winning streak snapped.