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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

GU women wake up in second half, beat Idaho State

First-year Gonzaga women’s basketball coach Lisa Fortier accepted a postgame congratulatory handshake from athletic director Mike Roth.

Before he could say a word, Fortier offered the following: “I know. There’s two halves, I already know.”

If Fortier can successfully communicate that point to her team, the 24th-ranked Bulldogs appear primed for another promising season. Gonzaga overcame another sluggish start, pulling away from Idaho State in the second half for an 88-63 victory Tuesday at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

GU opened the season Sunday by outscoring No. 22 Dayton 53-32 in the second half to erase an 11-point halftime deficit.

“We got out slow again,” Fortier said. “We really need to learn how to come out from the tip.”

Several factors likely played into Gonzaga’s rugged first half. The Zags might have assumed it would come easy against Idaho State, which was outscored 40-0 at the outset of an 84-34 loss at Washington State.

“They came ready to go and we underestimated them a little bit,” said junior Shaniqua Nilles, who scored a career-high 18 points. “They got us on our heels. We had to come into halftime and make some changes.”

A never-ending procession of whistles prevented either team from finding any rhythm. Gonzaga was in the bonus 3:30 into the first half. ISU was in the bonus for the final 12:05. In one 15-second sequence, the Bengals were called for four fouls. Four Bengals fouled out and the team finished with 37 fouls.

Gonzaga attempted 48 free throws, making a school-record 37.

“We had five players on the bench with two fouls and they had the same,” Fortier said. “I know they’re really concentrating on cleaning up post play but it was like you couldn’t go anywhere without a foul being called. We just had to make the adjustments.”

The Bulldogs led 33-21 after a pair of Elle Tinkle free throws but a 4:20 dry spell allowed ISU to rattle off 13 straight points. Gonzaga led 41-40 at half, despite being outrebounded 25-15 by the shorter Bengals.

“We knew we had to be more aggressive,” Nilles said. “We were getting outworked on our own floor and that wasn’t acceptable. Once the coaches left, we all looked at each other and said, ‘This is our house and we have to protect our home floor.’ ”

And what was the coach’s message?

“It was, ‘Let’s go, this is not Zags’ basketball,’ ” Nilles said. “Lisa, small and mighty but she got into us a little bit.”

Gonzaga dialed up its defense, converting 13 ISU turnovers into 19 second-half points. The Bulldogs used a 13-2 run to build a 54-42 lead. A 16-3 burst bumped Gonzaga’s lead to 72-49.

The Bulldogs had a 46-20 edge in bench points. Nilles made 4 of 5 shots and 8 of 11 free throws.

“She gave us a lift both on the defensive and offensive side,” Fortier said. “She played probably all five (positions). She ended the game at the point. She came in at the wing. She did a little of everything.”

Sunny Greinacher made 11 free throws en route to 15 points. Shelby Cheslek added nine points and seven rebounds and Tinkle chipped in five points, four rebounds and three steals.

“Shaniqua and Elle came off the bench and they were spectacular, diving on balls and getting steals,” Cheslek said.

GU visits Montana State on Friday.