Gonzaga women enter holiday break with good cheer after beating Montana 82-67

It’s time for a holiday break, and few could use one more than the Gonzaga women.

In action for the third time in five days Wednesday night, the Zags outlasted Montana 82-67 in a nonconference game at McCarthey Athletic Center that was far closer than that.

Now they get seven days off before their next game – near the beach at Malibu, California, no less.

McKayla Williams can’t wait that long. On Thursday morning, she’ll fly back home to Los Angeles.

“I’m just so excited to be with the family,” Williams said. “And to just rest our minds for a while.”

Their bodies could also use a break after another physical contest that wasn’t decided until late in the fourth quarter.

It played out much like Monday’s closer-than-the-final-score encounter with San Diego. Starting again with nine players, the rotation was further shortened when Yvonne Ejim picked up her second personal foul less than 4 minutes into the game.

Still, the Zags made it look easy in the first quarter thanks to some sharp shooting from Brynna Maxwell, then struggled for 20 minutes before pulling away on some 3-pointers from Maxwell and Kaylynne Truong.

The win in their final nonconference game puts the Zags at 12-2 overall before they resume West Coast Conference action on Dec. 29 at Pepperdine.

“If any team needs a break, this one does,” Maxwell said. “The team can breathe a little bit and take a step back – that’s what our team really needs.”

On Wednesday, the Zags needed some outside shooting to counter Montana’s inside strength after Ejim departed.

They got it mostly from Maxwell, who hit four long-range shots and had 15 points in the first 18 minutes.

“It’s fun playing with these guys,” said Maxwell, who finished with a game-high 23 points and made 5 of 6 attempts from beyond the arc.

Meanwhile, Montana made just 1 of 9 long-range shots in the first half and was 7 for 27 overall.

Gonzaga took a 36-20 lead on a second-chance 3-pointer from Eliza Hollingsworth, but the Lady Griz clawed back.

GU missed 10 of its last 12 shots of the second quarter, which ended with the Montana players storming the court after Libby Stump made a pull-up jumper at the buzzer to make it 38-32.

Montana (4-7) barely lost the rebounding battle (39-36) and outscored GU 19-2 on bench points.

The Griz also got a strong performance from forward Carmen Gfeller. The senior from Colfax finished with 22 points and eight rebounds.

Gfeller opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer. Montana twice got within two points, but GU responded with back-to-back buckets from Hollingsworth, a driving layup by Williams and a fast-break layin from Kaylynne Truong that made it 53-42.

Truong, who finished with 18 points and seven assists, made a 3-pointer to give GU a 58-48 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Montana got within six a few minutes later, but Ejim made two layins, and Truong and Maxwell connected again from outside to give GU a 70-54 cushion with barely 5 minutes left.

Ejim scored 15 points and a game-high nine boards in just 21 minutes on the court.

Williams also had a strong game: 11 points and five assists along with two steals in the second half.

Montana got 21 points from guard Sammy Fatkin, who shot 9 for 17 from the field.