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Gonzaga Women's Basketball

Analysis: Gonzaga women persevere through injuries, tough schedule to stand alone atop WCC

By Greg Lee The Spokesman-Review

And then there was one.

What had been a six-team logjam at the top of the West Coast Conference women’s basketball two weeks ago is no more.

The team sitting alone at the top comes as no surprise. Gonzaga was the preseason pick to win, ever so slightly over Washington State and Portland.

WSU has faltered of late and Gonzaga swept Portland during their seven-game winning streak.

The Zags have a favorable second-half schedule and it should serve them well as teams continue to jockey for conference tournament seeding.

Six of Gonzaga’s 10 games are at home. The Zags have yet to play Saint Mary’s and Pacific, but will do so in two of the next three games.

The most challenging games awaiting Gonzaga are at Oregon State, which rallied from a 12-point deficit in regulation to beat the Zags in overtime earlier, and a home contest with WSU, which the Zags beat in Pullman.

The Zags should be applauded for overcoming much adversity . First came early season injuries to four players – Claire O’Connor, Ines Bettencourt, Esther Little and McKynnlie Dalan. They’ve recovered and helped Gonzaga develop depth – even if it was razor-thin for a while.

Gonzaga finally got back Bree Salenbien, who returned from a third anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair and Saint Mary’s guard transfer Tayla Dalton, who recovered enough from three stress fractures in a foot to return and do some load-management while continuing to heal.

Dalton, who was a projected starter before the season, started for the first time Saturday at Pepperdine. She brings defensive intensity and energy – intangibles that are more important to what the Bulldogs are building than statistics.

Gonzaga is still dealing with the most recent adversity – the loss of graduate forward Maud Huijbens, who was playing at a high level when she was lost to a concussion. She’s averaging 9.4 points and 7.8 rebounds.

Others have stepped up in Huijben’s three-game absence, especially where the 6-foot-3 forward is missed most – on the boards.

Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier was asked if Huijben’s concussion issue is anything like the issue that forced her to miss seven games two seasons ago. Fortier dismissed the thought quickly, but evaluating concussions has proven to be tricky.

Adversity has the ability to refine and polish teams, often separating contenders from pretenders. The Zags have dealt with their share and improved in the process.

The Zags were a veteran, savvy crew a season ago, cruising to a school-best 32-4 record and Sweet 16 finish.

So when the Zags had to replace four starters, it was thought they could struggle in the process. Sure enough, they did during nonconference play.

The most glaring challenge on the court has been turnovers. Gonzaga is giving up the ball 18 times a game.

The mistakes have improved in Gonzaga’s seven-game winning streak. In the past five games, they’ve averaged 14.8 – twice matching a season low of 10 and a high of 22 in the win at WSU.

Fortier and her staff deserve much credit. They’ve been patient with a team that is largely new, and that patience is paying dividends.

A team doesn’t earn an NCAA Tournament berth based on regular-season play – at least not a WCC team this season. Gonzaga knows all too well that to get back to the NCAA Tournament it will have to win the conference tournament.

That will be another challenge for many reasons – not the least of which is Gonzaga has fallen to Portland two years in a row in the WCC Tournament final.

For the moment, though, things are headed in the right direction for the Bulldogs.

Fortier spoke about her team’s recent play while giving a nod to committing fewer turnovers after her team’s win at Pepperdine.

“Nice defensive effort in three out of the four quarters,” Fortier said. “We shared the ball and we took care of the ball. We mostly made easy plays. A couple of those plays we got sped up. We were ready to shoot and we shared the ball freely.”

Zags back at home

The Zags (13-8, 8-2 WCC) return home for two games, beginning Thursday against last-place San Diego (4-15, 0-10) as the second half of conference play begins.

Fortier is looking forward to being back in front of family, friends and fans at McCarthey Athletic Center.

“Anytime we can be at home for a stretch (like this week), we love it,” Fortier said.

Cougars sweep Beavers

Washington State’s 65-57 win at Oregon State on Monday was much needed.

It snapped a two-game losing streak and keeps WSU in the hunt for a top WCC seed.

The Cougars (13-10, 8-4 WCC) were well in control most of the game, building their biggest lead at 48-23.

WSU doesn’t have much wiggle room when it comes to staying in contention for a bye into the WCC semifinals. The Cougars are a game behind Portland (18-3, 7-3) and Saint Mary’s (11-8, 7-3) and two behind Gonzaga.

The Cougars were out of sorts in many ways in an 83-65 loss at home against Portland last Thursday.

“We let some really good players get whatever type of shots they wanted,” WSU senior guard Tara Wallack said.

WSU coach Kamie Ethridge put the fault of the loss on her shoulders.

“We’ve got to figure out how to guard them a little better next time,” Ethridge said. “It’s a long season and (it’s) anybody’s conference still. Everybody’s trying to get as high as they possibly can. Every game matters. We’ve got to respond the right way to the loss and getting beaten at home and not playing very well and not guarding very well and not doing many things well. But that’s a very good team. They’re going to be in it for a long time against anybody in the league.”

Oh, Canada

In a matchup of talented Canadians a couple of weeks ago, Yvonne Ejim’s Gonzaga Bulldogs topped Wallack’s Cougars 69-61.

Wallack is looking forward to the rematch Feb. 8 at Gonzaga.

“I said to Yvonne, my fellow Canadian, ‘We’ll get you next time.’ and she kind of just laughed,” Wallack said. “That’s the rivalry. It’s going to be tougher there because they brought so many fans here and who knows how many people will be there. Just looking forward to the next opportunity to play them. They are an NCAA (Tournament) team and really good to play against.”

There’s been so much made of the tight race for postseason seeding. But it’s safe to say that three of the 11 teams aren’t capable of beating any of the top teams.

Three games separate the top seven teams.

This ’n’ that

A little-known fact was one of the keys to Washington State’s win at Oregon State on Monday.

WSU, which leads the nation in total blocked shots (156 in 23 games), ranks third at 6.8 per game, behind USC (7.1) and Kentucky (6.9). The Cougars had 12 blocked shots against the Beavers, led by six from Alex Covill. She has 105 for the season.

• WSU redshirt freshman forward Candace Kpetikou was named WCC Freshman of the Week.

Kpetikou scored 25 points in two games last week, including a career-high 12 against Portland before getting 13 at Loyola Marymount.