Gonzaga women beat Santa Clara 68-61 to clinch No. 1 seed at WCC Tournament, share of regular-season title
The Gonzaga women’s basketball team poses in the locker room after beating Santa Clara on Saturday to clinch a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title in Santa Clara, Calif. (Courtesy of Gonzaga Athletics)
With their star player not at her best, Yvonne Ejim’s teammates stepped up big Saturday afternoon.
Especially at her best was freshman point guard Allie Turner. And Bree Salenbien was key off the bench.
Gonzaga captured a share of its 20th West Coast Conference championship, but not without a tug of war with the Santa Clara Broncos.
After a mistake-filled first half, Gonzaga bounced back when it counted most in the final two quarters, stopping Santa Clara 68-61 at the Leavey Center in Santa Clara, California.
Gonzaga secured the No. 1 seed to the WCC Tournament thanks to sweeping Portland, which had to go to overtime before outscoring Pacific 94-88 on Saturday.
“Allie and Bree played really well offensively,” Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier said. “I thought a lot of people gave us good lifts defensively. We rely so much on (Yvonne Ejim). She had a couple things go not her way, but our team was able to push through that.”
The Zags improved to 22-9 overall, 17-3 in the WCC.
This conference championship is special to Fortier for many reasons – not the least of which is the Zags overcame struggles in the nonconference that included a 4-6 start. Gonzaga found itself at 1-2 in the WCC after a disappointing overtime loss to Oregon State.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been more proud of a team to win a (WCC) championship,” Fortier said. “Just the growth that this team has done since we started in the fall to the point where we’re at right now is something I almost don’t have any words for it. They have bought in to their own development, they’ve bought in to team chemistry, they’ve bought into the work and they’ve pushed through the grind and found a way to get better all the time. I’m just really, really happy for them and proud of them.”
Ejim’s consecutive streak of games scoring in double figures scoring was snapped at 72. Ejim finished with eight points on 2-of-8 shooting from the field. She was saddled with four fouls in the fourth quarter.
Turner and Salenbien took over. Turner made her first seven shots, matching her career high of 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field. She also had three rebounds and three assists.
She also made 5 of 6 from 3-point range. She’s made 91 3-pointers, first in the nation among freshmen. She’s five made 3s away from single-season record holder Brynna Maxwell.
Salenbien hit 6 of 8 shots from the field, 3 of 4 3-pointers for a career-high 17 points and three rebounds.
The Zags continued their season-long trend of turnover problems. The Bulldogs committed 15, but they limited their turnovers to five in the final two quarters.
Santa Clara used a 3-pointer in the waning seconds to take a 31-30 lead into halftime.
The Zags were beat frequently off dribble-drive penetration.
Gonzaga got out to a 15-8 lead, thanks largely to Salenbien’s two 3-pointers off the bench.
But the Zags suffered from poor defense thereafter.
The Broncos took their first lead (25-23) with 3:05 to go in the first half.
The Zags went the final 2:34 without a field goal.
The Zags got a brief 5-0 spurt for a 28-25 lead. Tayla Dalton’s two free throws gave Gonzaga its last lead before halftime at 30-28.
The Zags handled the Broncos 82-56 on Jan. 4, but they had all they could handle from Santa Clara (14-16, 8-12) this time.
Next up is the WCC Tournament, which begins Thursday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Gonzaga has a double bye until March 10 when it will play at noon.