Gonzaga women beat Saint Mary’s for 14th win in a row 60-53

Lisa Fortier didn’t try to dance around the obvious Thursday.

Her Gonzaga women’s basketball team didn’t play well for most of the 40 minutes against the Saint Mary’s Gaels, but the Bulldogs had enough to snag their 14th consecutive victory, winning 60-53 in a West Coast Conference game in front of 5,441 at McCarthey Athletic Center.

“Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly,” Fortier said. “We’ve lost plenty, we’ve won plenty – and a bunch of different ways. So it was an ugly win, but it was gutty. Our team figured it out.”

Gonzaga freshman point guard Allie Turner, who found herself swallowed up at times by the Gaels’ ever-changing defenses, thought the Zags pulled out a victory that they necessarily wouldn’t have done early in the season.

“We weren’t us for a little bit,” Turner said. “But you know not all games are going to be pretty, and we’ve shown that even if it’s ugly we’ll be able to figure it out. So I’m very proud that we didn’t stop trying.”

Gonzaga remains in first place by a game over Portland. The Zags improved to 20-8 overall, 15-2 in the WCC.

It’s the 10th season under 11-year coach Fortier that Gonzaga has had 20 wins.

The game lacked pace, rhythm, fluidity – all the above – from the opening tip.

The teams combined for 25 turnovers in the first half, 13 by the Zags. It was the definition of ugly.

Gonzaga converted 12 Saint Mary’s turnovers in the first half into 16 points.

The Zags played good defense. That was about the only thing they did consistently in the first two quarters.

Thanks to the Gaels playing worse, Gonzaga built a 12-point lead (23-11) when Yvonne Ejim made a jumper 4:11 before halftime.

Gonzaga graduate forward Maud Huijbens, in her fourth game back after being out six games recovering from a concussion, had 11 points and eight rebounds. She had back-to-back baskets in the third quarter, and those coupled with Bree Salenbien’s 3-pointer allowed Gonzaga to open its biggest lead at 42-29.

Salenbien made her first collegiate start, but she got hurt and limped to the locker room early in the second quarter before returning about five minutes later.

Saint Mary’s (13-13, 9-8) wouldn’t go away in the fourth quarter. Three times the Gaels cut the Zags’ lead to four points, but Turner’s 3-pointer and late free throws helped the Zags to hold off Saint Mary’s.

Turner led with 16 points, three assists and two steals.

Ejim reached double figures for a 70th consecutive game with 12 to go with four rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. GU’s Esther Little continued her strong effort on the boards with 11 rebounds.

“It was a grinder, and I’m glad for how we finished,” Fortier said. “They threw a bunch of different things at us and our team got a little bit on our heels.

“We had a couple of players struggle against it and we got tentative, and when you get tentative that’s not helpful. That’s a recipe for failure when it comes to attacking pressure and those kind of things.”

What concerned Fortier most was that her team passed up good shots.

“We turned it over a little bit less in the second half, but still enough,” Fortier said. “So I don’t know what that was about exactly. I would rather have seen us shoot a couple of those shots versus getting ourselves into trouble.”

Huijbens said the Zags didn’t do a good job of just being themselves.

“Lisa said it in the pregame speech – we just have to be us,” Huijbens said. “We’re at this point in the season, we’ve shown our identity, we just have to be out there and have fun and be us.”

Gonzaga will celebrate Senior Day on Saturday when San Francisco visits.