Gonzaga women rout Pepperdine 85-41, rebuilding momentum ahead of WCC Tournament

As Gonzaga women’s coach Lisa Fortier said, the focus this week is on improvement.

Things couldn’t have gone much better Thursday night, when the Zags dispatched Pepperdine 85-41 in a game that wasn’t even that close.

It was so one-sided that Fortier was clearing the bench in the second quarter, while Pepperdine closed the first half with a 10-4 run and still trailed by 22.

“It’s hard to keep playing well when you get a big lead,” Fortier said. And yet the Zags did.

Up 40-18 at the half, GU opened the third quarter on a 14-4 run to put the game away.

It’s called momentum, and the Zags have seemingly regained it after a rough trip last weekend to BYU.

With one game left in the regular season, GU is 23-6 overall and 14-2 in the West Coast Conference. They probably won’t win the regular-season title, but this felt pretty good.

The Zags dominated on the boards, racked up 28 assists and committed a season-low seven turnovers.

For that, the Zags could thank point guard Kayleigh Truong, who had 11 assists along with nine points.

“I always tell my teammates that I’ll deliver, so I just need them to finish,” Truong said.

Recalling her first assist of the night, a long pass downcourt to Melody Kempton, Truong allowed that “it maybe was a bit too far, but I was confident she would catch it.”

Gonzaga also dominated on the glass after battling the Waves on even terms in the first half.

“I was really happy with the way we battled in the second half,” Fortier said of the Zags’ 48-27 advantage on the boards.

That, too, was a team effort, with three players getting six boards each and three others with five.

Kempton had a strong game that included a game-high 15 points and six rebounds.

The big lead allowed Fortier to give big minutes to her bench. Freshman Maud Huijbens made the most of her 12 minutes on the court: a career-high 12 points and five rebounds.

“I feel really good,” said Huijbens, a 6-foot-3 forward from the Netherlands. “My teammates were able to find me, so I’m grateful.”

The Zags got 36 points from their bench.

Pepperdine (8-15, 4-10) had no players in double figures; Kendyl Carson and Malia Bambrick had nine each.

Freshman guard Ally Stedman came into the game averaging 13.5 points, but finished with three points while making just 1 of 13 shots.

“When we’re able to focus on one player, we’re pretty good,” Fortier said.

GU shot 48.5% (33 for 68) from the field and even better (10 for 20) from long range.

The only thing the Zags didn’t get was some outside help, as first-place BYU rolled to a 103-66 win at Santa Clara.

Next up for GU is Senior Day. Tipoff against Loyola Marymount is 2 p.m.