Gonzaga women snap out of slow start to roll past Western Washington in exhibition, 78-36
As it turned out, fans got what they wanted Friday night at the Kennel.
After a slow start, the Gonzaga women found their stride and raced past Western Washington 78-36 in their first and only exhibition basketball game of the season.
“I think we got good stuff from everybody,” GU coach Lisa Fortier said.
This was about winning, sure, but also about finding some winning combinations on the court. There were plenty of them, but nearly all involved senior point guard Kayleigh Truong.
The only returning starter from last year’s 27-7 squad, Truong held the Zags together through a rough first half and helped them thrive during a near-perfect third quarter.
Along the way, Truong scored a game-high 17 points while making 5 of 6 shots from long range and dishing out three assists.
The prettiest came in the third quarter on a no-look pass to a driving Yvonne Ejim, who had 13 points and nine rebounds.
After the game, Truong dished out compliments just as easily.
Sitting next to Ejim in the postgame interview room, Truong said, “She makes me look good.”
A few minutes later, Fortier didn’t deflect any of the praise for Truong.
“We turn to her for a lot of things,” Fortier said. “She’s not just a distributor, but a great shooter and finisher. She’s someone who our team is always looking to, someone who can calm our team down.”
The Zags came out nervous in the first half. It didn’t help that a closed-door scrimmage last weekend against Arizona State was canceled because the Sun Devils were “too injured,” Fortier said.
“This was our first game against someone else,” Fortier said.
It showed.
Western Washington, which played for the Division II title last year, outplayed the Zags for most of the first half.
The Zags missed their first six shots and trailed 9-4 before McKayla Williams scored on a floater with 3 minutes left in the first quarter.
Outplaying GU on the boards, the Vikings led 21-19 with 4 minutes, 20 seconds left until halftime.
A few seconds later, Truong hit a 3-pointer to give the Zags the lead for good. GU led 30-22 at halftime.
GU played a near-flawless third quarter, hitting 12 of 14 shots while and outscoring the Vikings 32-6. The Zags led 62-28 going into the fourth quarter.
“Any team can plan well for a half,” Fortier said. “But we continued to push the ball, and finally got into the gaps on defense.”
Western Washington made just 6 of 26 shots in the second half.
The Zags got 26 points from their bench, including 14 from Utah transfer Brynna Maxwell. Six players hit from beyond the arc, where GU was 10 for 14 .
Western got 13 points from guard Riley Dykstra and a game-high 10 rebounds from forward Brooke Walling.
Next up for GU is the regular-season opener Thursday against Long Beach State. Tipoff will be at 7:30 p.m. because of a conflict with volleyball.