Gonzaga women ride fast start to comfortable win at Pacific 72-56
The Gonzaga women’s basketball team can be such a riddle at times.
The Bulldogs played inconsistently in their final two games at home last week, especially in a loss on Senior Day.
Then on Thursday, they played one of their better halves at the Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton, California.
The Zags made a fast start hold up, leading the whole way in a 72-56 win over the Pacific Tigers in a West Coast Conference game.
“I thought our team started great,” Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier said. “We played with really good intensity on the defensive side and executed well on the offensive side. Pacific is a really good team with good offensive players, but our team was dialed in defensively. That allowed us to get going.”
It appeared the Zags were going to run Pacific off its own court after the first half. But pesky turnovers stopped that momentum in the third quarter as Gonzaga committed nine.
The Zags finished with 22 turnovers, four above their average, and Pacific got 19 points off turnovers.
“In the third quarter, we were trying to push tempo in transition and we just got a little bit ahead of ourselves and going faster than we wanted to go,” Fortier said. “That’s where the turnovers came from. They were turnovers trying to do the right thing.”
Gonzaga improved to 21-9 overall, 16-3 in the WCC. Portland stayed alive in the chase for the conference championship and top seed to the WCC Tournament by beating San Francisco on the road.
Gonzaga can clinch the top seed Saturday with a win or a loss if Portland loses as well.
Gonzaga graduate forward Yvonne Ejim entered the game needing 36 points to become the unofficial all-time leading scorer at Gonzaga – male or female. Drew Timme holds that honor with 2,307 points.
The Calgary, Alberta, native had half of it, 18 points, in the first half, making 7 of 9 shots from the field, including a 3-pointer that gave the Zags their biggest lead at 45-22 with 49 seconds to go before halftime.
Seven players scored for Gonzaga in the opening half.
Ejim finished with a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds. It’s the 72nd consecutive game Ejim has scored in double figures. GU graduate forward Maud Huijbens came off the bench with 12 points and eight rebounds, and junior guard Ines Bettencourt had 11 points and two assists, also off the bench.
Transfer Tayla Dalton did a marvelous job as the primary defender on Pacific’s best player, Liz Smith. Dalton limited Smith to four points.
Dalton also led Gonzaga’s dominance on the boards. The Zags outrebounded Pacific (13-16, 9-10) 45-23 and Dalton had nine.
Gonzaga defeated Pacific 68-64 on Feb. 1 at a time that Huijbens was out with a concussion.
The Zags looked much different in the first half than they did in their two home games last week.
Ines Bettencourt became the seventh player to score when she made two free throws as Gonzaga doubled up its lead at 40-20.
Gonzaga shot 16 of 30 from the field, 5 of 11 from 3-point range in the first half. The Zags also outrebounded the Tigers 24-11 in the first half.
The Zags finish the regular season Saturday at Santa Clara.
“Saturday is a big deal,” Fortier said. “We’re still in control of our own destiny. I think a lot of people doubted our team, but our team didn’t doubt ourselves. We’re in great position to take care of business against a tough team.”