March 27, 2011 in News, Sports

Gonzaga women zoom to first Elite Eight

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Dan Pelle photo

Gonzaga’s Courtney Vandersloot (21) and Claire Raap, right, celebrate their 76-69 win over Louisville, March 25, 2011, in the Spokane Arena.
(Full-size photo)(All photos)

They are Elite.

The magical season for the Gonzaga women’s basketball team continued Saturday night – to the delight of 10,717 fans at the Spokane Arena – as the Bulldogs earned a spot in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament with a hard-fought 76-69 win over Louisville.

With their 21st straight win, the 11th-seeded Bulldogs (31-4) became the lowest seed to reach the final eight.

They’ll meet top-seeded Stanford (32-2), which defeated No. 5 seed North Carolina 72-65, Monday night at 6 for a chance to take their magic to the Final Four in Indianapolis next weekend.

Gonzaga did it with a nearly flawless 30 minutes behind its point-guard-for-the-ages and hung on as the Cardinals (22-13) stormed back, cutting a 20-point lead with less than 15 minutes to play to three with under 5 minutes to go.

“They switched to that zone and that kind of caught us off-guard,” said point guard Courtney Vandersloot, who set the NCAA single-season assist record and the West Coast Conference career steals record. “We were playing back on our heels, we were kind of playing not to lose.”

The Bulldogs shot 50 percent in the first half and held Louisville to 34.4 percent in building a 35-24 lead.

The Zags picked up where they left off, starting the second half with an 8-2 burst with Vandersloot scoring the first four and then setting up Kelly Bowen’s three-point play for a 43-26 lead at the 18:15 mark. That was Vandersloot’s 356th assist of the season, passing the total Suzie McConnell had for Penn State in 1987.

The Cardinals got back to within 12, but Vandersloot, who finished with 29 points, seven assists, seven steals and five rebounds, converted a three-point play and then watched as Katelan Redmon and Bowen assisted on each other’s baskets for a 51-31 lead.

“I think it was our defense,” Louisville senior Keshia Hines said. “We weren’t finding people in transition and I think that carried on to our offense.”

It was still 59-44 on two free throws by Vandersloot at the 9:39 mark, but after that the Cardinals went on a 13-2 run fueled by four straight turnovers and pounding the ball inside to the 6-foot-2 Hines while freshman Shoni Schimmel came to life.

“Trying to word this very nicely,” Cardinals coach Jeff Walz said, “I told them we needed to play harder. I told them not to worry about the three on the floor that weren’t on the other team.”

He pointed to Gonzaga’s 24-of-28 performance from the foul line – including 13 of 14 from Vandersloot – while his team was just 5 of 9. But after Tia Gibbs’ short jumper made it 65-62 with 2:58 to go, the Zags closed the game by making 11 of 12 free throws.

“The atmosphere definitely gave us some energy at the end,” said Gonzaga senior Janelle Bekkering, who made nine straight free throws, including six down the stretch, to finish with 15 points. “They just kind of picked us up.”

Bekkering also had the lead role in guarding Schimmel, who finished with 18 points but made just 1 of 13 shots in the first half.

“She’s definitely a great player and a hard one to guard,” Bekkering said. “My main focus was to stay on her all game and get a hand up because she can shoot from deep.”

Schimmel only had two 3s, including one at the start of the rally, but they were deep. She also turned two of four straight GU turnovers into layups.

“We dug ourselves a hole in the beginning and had to fight back,” Tia Gibbs said. “One thing that we don’t do is quit.”

But it was Bekkering who hit a clutch shot, followed by a Kayla Standish basket, that stopped the Louisville run. The Cardinals’ last gasp ended with an ugly turnover and an air ball on consecutive possessions with about 90 seconds left.

“I think it was more, ‘Oh my God, we’re up by 20 and we’re playing for an Elite Eight. That doesn’t seem right,’ ” Bowen said. “Normally these games are decided by one or two points. I think we relaxed but when it was close we tightened it up again.”

While the Cardinals were focusing on Standish, who was coming off consecutive 30-point games, Bekkering scored 15 points, Bowen 12 and Redmon 10.

“I really do think they keyed on her,” Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves said. “But other people stepped up. That’s what we’ve been doing all year. That’s our M.O. – it’s never the same player.”

The Cardinals were hurt when leading scorer and rebounder Monique Reid left the game with an injury after aout 5 minutes.

Hines, who had 17 points, and Asia Taylor, who scored 10 plus 12 rebounds, picked up the slack inside, helping build a 40-33 rebounding edge.

The Cardinals shot 54.3 percent in the second half and held Gonzaga to 37 percent.

Five comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  PhiltheBibliophil on March 27 at 6:47 a.m.

  Congratulations. But, they almost gave it up in true “Ziggy-Zag” fashion. Can’t do that against Stanford! But for now, party like there’s no Monday!

• 

  leekinny on March 27 at 8:14 a.m.

  Don’t shy away from the girls. They’re a blast to watch,too. Go Zags!!!

• 

  jimvw2 on March 27 at 9:17 a.m.

  What a powerful offense! Three higher seeds have keyed on Standish or Van der Sloot,and Bowen, Redmon and others simply step up to fill the gap. This is a TEAM, folks, a great team that makes great players. Congratulations to all them for lifting each others games to a new level. If they continue to play with team speed and confidence,look out Stanford. You’re in the way, and a serious team is comin’ through.

• 

  yogiandbooboo on March 27 at 2:27 p.m.

  1. Monique Reed, best defender and inside scorer, injured during warmups.
  2. Home cooking ( and I’m not talking about free throws, yet)
  3. Free throws: Gonzaga 28 Louisville 9 (difference was 7 points)

  Analysis: Reed plays, neutral floor, nuetral officiating =
  NO CONTEST.

  Louisville wins by 10

  Party is over Monday……..Stanford by 15 , at least.

• 

  Mike1950 on March 28 at 10:37 a.m.

  Yogiandbooboo, thats the breaks in sports. None of what you cite was the doing of Gonzaga women’s basketball. Sometimes the breaks are in your favor sometimes they are not. As for freethrows, as always near the end of the game the team that is behind has to foul in order to get the ball back quickly. Without the fouls in the last five minutes I’m sure the numbers would have been different.