Bulldog women ready for rematch
Gonzaga women basketball players get a chance to erase the memory of their lowest point of the season with what would be the high point of their athletic lives, not to mention the high point in program history.
The Bulldogs play Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA Tournament - the unedited game story is below - along with a couple of notes.
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davet@spokesman.com; (509) 927-2154
He has that much respect for Gonzaga.
“Gonzaga would finish in the top four in any BCS conference in the country,” he said. “That’s how good they are, that’s how much respect I have for their personnel and their coach.”
Blair’s Aggies finished fourth in the Big 12 Conference, which happens to have seven teams in the tournament, all top six seeds and all ranked in the Top 25. The Aggies are also 25-7 overall, ranked ninth nationally and seeded second in the Sacramento Regional.
Just for good measure, they also beat the Bulldogs 80-76 at a December tournament in
But since halftime of that game, when A&M led 51-32, Gonzaga has won 19 (and a half) in a row for a 28-4 record, 18 national ranking and a seventh-seed.
Blair remembers.
“We were in Vegas, I lost at the tables and we won the game,” he said. “Serious, we got after them early. I don’t think they were expecting that kind of pressure to start the game. We sort of got them on their heels.”
A&M shot 60 percent in the first half, 53.6 for the game. Tanish Smith, a 6-foot senior guard, had 20 points and Tyra White, a 6-foot sophomore guard had 18. Junior center Danielle Adams, is now the super sub, had 11.
Adams, a 6-foot-1 junior, has become the leading scorer (16.3) and rebounder (5.7) despite just 10 starts. Smith averages 15.1 points, 5.5 rebounds with 121 assists and 73 steals. White is at 10.5 and three others average more than 7.
The Aggies also hounded GU point guard Courtney Vandersloot into nine turnovers with only eight assists.
“We like frustrating the other team, just knowing everything they’re going to do before they know what they’re going to do,” A&M senior Damitria Buchanan said. “Getting out in the passing lanes, making it hard for them, nothing comes easy for them at all. The more we create turnovers, the more we create frustration, the easier it is for us to score in transition.”
Vandersloot, who led the nation in assists, said, “I was awful during that game. It was kind of a learning experience for me. … At the same time, I can’t take it with me, I can’t do anything about it, all I can do is take care of the basketball the next game.”
The Bulldogs have called that game the turning point to the season.
“I think that was the low point of our season,” GU coach Kelly Graves said. “I think the second half really did do something to jump start us.”
Blair said the transformation was obvious.
“When they made their comeback, we were up 18 points with like 11 to go,” he said. “They played with no fear, they have complete confidence in themselves.”
That was on display Saturday night when the Zags out-ran North Carolina 82-76.
“That was one of the best college basketball games I’ve seen this year,” Blair said. “I really like their team. … They’ve got an eight-player rotation that is very, very good, so you can’t go in trying to stop three players, you’ve got to go in trying to stop their whole team.
“That’s the same problem they have with us. We have balance in scoring, they have balance in scoring.”
“Over the last three or four weeks they have played as good of basketball as any one in the country,” he said. “They really have been dialed in defensively. Offensively … you have to play this group honestly and hope they’re having an off shooting night or we’re having a great shooting night. … They are definitely a terrific basketball team.”
A&M averages 75.6 points a game and Gonzaga is fifth nationally at 81.
“You will have a high-scoring ballgame,” Blair said. “I don’t think either of us can shut the other one down.”
GU senior countered, “I think it is going to take defensive stops. We’ve prided ourselves on defense. I think the team that really buckles down and can slow the other team and get offense from our defense is going to be the team that comes out on top.”
The winner players the winner of third-seeded Xavier and sixth-seeded Vanderbilt, next Saturday in