Gonzaga women making due while three key players recover from injuries

For now, nine will have to be enough.

Moments after the Gonzaga women outlasted San Diego on Monday night, coach Lisa Fortier provided an update on her three injured players: point guard Kayleigh Truong, reserve forward Maud Huijbens and wing Bree Salenbien.

The news wasn’t exactly uplifting, and it clarified that for now, the Zags will need to make do with nine players.

Truong and Salenbien are still out indefinitely, Fortier said following a closer-than-expected 70-59 win over the Toreros.

Huijbens’ situation is trickier. The 6-foot-3 sophomore from the Netherlands suffered a concussion more than three weeks ago the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas.

Slowly recovering, she was able to practice on Sunday and had progressed to the point where Fortier thought Huijbens might play against San Diego.

“But she’s had a little bit of a setback in concussion protocol,” Fortier said Monday. “We will have to go back a couple of steps before going back.”

Fortier didn’t rule out Huijbens for Wednesday but said, “I wouldn’t call her probable.”

The updates on Truong and Salenbien were similarly depressing.

Truong, a starter since the beginning of last season, suffered a foot injury in the Bahamas tournament and has been on crutches and wearing a boot on her right foot since.

The school hasn’t disclosed the nature of Truong’s injury, which initially was thought to be a sprained ankle. It happened against Louisville in the first game of the tournament; Truong was back in action two days later against Tennessee but could play only for 6 minutes.

“Kayleigh is still not weight-bearing,” Fortier said.

“You’ve got to go nonweight-bearing into weight-bearing before you can progress so there’s not a definite timeline.”

Salenbien’s situation is more unclear. The first five-star recruit in program history, she tore an ACL in March as the Zags practiced in Las Vegas during the West Coast Conference Tournament.

After pointing out that the normal rehabilitation window for an ACL injury is nine to 12 months, Fortier noted that it’s been just over nine months since the injury.

“Bree is making normal progress,” Fortier said.

In the meantime, the nine healthy Zags have been forced to step up, with mixed results.

The injury to her twin sister has put more pressure on Kaylynne Truong, who scored 44 points in games against BYU and San Diego while averaging 34½ minutes on the court.

Truong made only 6 of 18 shots against San Diego but hit three big shots in the fourth quarter as GU finally pulled away.

“She does a pretty good job with that next-play attitude,” Fortier said. “ ‘Lynnie’ is about as steady as they come.”

So is Yvonne Ejim, the Zags’ biggest inside threat. She’s facing more double-teams in the absence of Huijbens, however, and she’s also dealing with more foul trouble.

Others have picked up the slack. Forward Eliza Hollingsworth has improved her inside game – she had 13 rebounds in the past two games – while Destiny Burton is showing more confidence.

It’s the same story in the backcourt. In the past four games, redshirt freshman Calli Stokes has averaged six points and five boards.

Payton Muma has been solid in relief of Kaylynne Truong, while Esther Little had the best all-around game of her career against San Diego, with six rebounds, a block and a steal.

“I think that since people have gone down, we’re just trying to stay consistent,” Little said.