Gonzaga women blow out Pacific, take over first place in WCC

When Pacific began the fourth quarter on Thursday with a 6-0 run that featured two offensive fouls by Gonzaga starters and a shot-clock violation, Lisa Fortier called a timeout.

The Bulldogs weren’t playing the kind of basketball they know how to play, their head coach said.

That Gonzaga still led the game by 30 was, in that sense, immaterial.

“Offensively and defensively, we did not look like ourselves,” Fortier said. “It looked like it was summertime and coach isn’t around, and we needed to change that. I thought we adjusted well.”

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team answered with a 13-3 run and from there sealed up a 79-38 victory over Pacific at McCarthey Athletic Center that kept the Bulldogs unbeaten in West Coast Conference games this season. The 38 points were the fewest allowed by Gonzaga this season.

It also marked Gonzaga’s second 41-point victory over Pacific, following a 92-51 victory on Jan. 13. This win gave the Bulldogs lone possession of first place in the WCC standings, following BYU’s 75-64 loss to Portland on Thursday.

BYU plays Gonzaga at McCarthey on Saturday.

“It’s going to be super fun for all of us,” said Abby O’Connor, who finished with 10 points. “This is what we’re here to play for.”

Against Pacific, Gonzaga played excellent help defense and completely shut out Pacific from 3-point range, where the Tigers went 0 for 18. It was the first game all season the Tigers – the fifth-best 3-point shooting team in the WCC – failed to make a 3.

Freshman Anaya James, the Tigers’ leading scorer, missed all seven of her field-goal attempts and didn’t attempt a free throw. It was the first time she’d been held scoreless this season.

“Our biggest emphasis coming into Pacific was understanding personnel, just forcing other players to do something they’re very uncomfortable doing,” Gonzaga junior guard Kayleigh Truong said. “So, those who drive a lot to the rim and are aggressive toward the rim, we would want to try to get them to shoot, to do something out of the ordinary. And those who are 3-point shooters, we were making them put (the ball) on the floor or try to playmake, or do something they’re uncomfortable doing.”

Pacific (5-14, 2-6) shot 25.5% overall, only a shade better than it did last time against Gonzaga (25.4%).

The Bulldogs (17-4, 8-0) had no such issues. They finished 10 of 20 from 3-point range, made 51.1% of their shots overall and had seven players score at least eight points.

Kayleigh Truong led them with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting; she also added a team-high four assists. Junior Kaylynne Truong added 10 points, as did redshirt sophomore Eliza Hollingsworth (3-for-6 shooting).

Pacific also turned the ball over a season-high 24 times, more than any Gonzaga opponent this season. But the Bulldogs also committed 21, and in their past two games have committed 46 total, their worst two-game stretch of the season.

Some of that, Fortier said, is that the team got going too fast. But it’s a problem that the team will continue to address, she said.

“It’s a little bit of a head-scratcher for me, because it’s not a new issue that we’ve had this year,” Fortier said, “and I have so far not been able to help our team stop doing that. … I’m going to come up with a solution for it.”