No. 20 Gonzaga women near full strength, host Saint Mary’s Saturday for final home game
Now that the Gonzaga women are close to full strength, the stretch run of the regular season should be a lot easier, right?
Not exactly, GU coach Lisa Fortier explained Thursday night, after 11 of her players saw action in a 69-58 win over Pacific.
After playing with as few as six players and fielding eight for most of the rest, Fortier was satisfied – to a point.
“I think that like everything, you expect all the troubles to go away,” Fortier said. “And there’s still another team that doesn’t care about that.
“I think that the boost was nice,” Fortier said of the return of forwards Eliza Hollingsworth and Maud Huijbens from concussion protocols that lasted two weeks and three months, respectively. “Our team is better when we are at full strength.
“But there’s a coaching conundrum that I have some things to figure out. You’re going from seven, or eight, or nine, where you have everyone playing heavy minutes, to strategic substation.
“I’ll have to figure that out,” added Fortier, who said that point guard Kayleigh Truong may return “soon” after sitting out the past three months with a foot injury.
Regardless, the substitution conundrum will need to be solved quickly, beginning with the final home game of the season, Saturday against Saint Mary’s.
Even shorthanded, GU handled the Gaels with ease last month in California, 82-57.
The biggest drama may happen before the game. Traditionally, the final home game doubles as Senior Day.
Gonzaga has three seniors, but guard Brynna Maxwell has declared her intention to return next year.
Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong have not done so, but an athletic department spokesperson said Friday afternoon that the team will hold “a pregame ceremony for Senior Day.”
“We aren’t announcing who is coming back prior to the ceremony, but it will be announced during it,” spokesperson Grace Whiteley said via text. “Lisa and the players will address the crowd postgame as well.”
The 20th-ranked Zags are 24-3 overall and 14-1 in the conference but lead second-place Portland by only one game with three to play. Both teams will hit the road next week against San Diego and BYU.
The Zags will be a solid favorite against Saint Mary’s (12-15, 6-10), which has lost seven of its past nine games.
In the earlier meeting on Jan. 21, forward Yvonne Ejim scored a game-high 24 points and four other Zags scored in double figures.
The Zags (19-2 overall) pulled away in the second half with a familiar winning formula: dominance on the boards, stellar foul shooting and solid defense in the paint.
Gonzaga also had a solid 3-point-shooting game, making 8 of 23 long-range shots.