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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Women’s college basketball: Gonzaga hitting stride

Halfway through the league, the Gonzaga women’s basketball team has answered every West Coast Conference challenge as it heads into a week with only one game.

The Bulldogs have come a long way from a team plagued with turnovers that looked lost in the early season with its half-court offense.

“Obviously, I’m pleased about where we are,” first-year coach Lisa Fortier said. “I don’t know that I expected us to be undefeated at this point, but I’ll take it.”

The Zags’ improvement has mostly come from their guard play. Junior transfer Georgia Stirton (North Idaho College) clearly has become comfortable in running the floor. And, junior guard Elle Tinkle stepped into the starting role because of an injury and has blossomed into all-conference consideration.

Tinkle was named the WCC’s player of the week after scoring 28 total points in road wins over Saint Mary’s and Pacific. Tinkle is averaging 16.9 points and 7.2 rebounds in the nine conference games.

“She’s been huge to our team right now,” Fortier said. “I would hope that someone else would have stepped up, but it’s good she’s been playing so well.”

Stirton said her confidence has grown with each game.

“It took me a while to learn my role and position,” she said. “I’ve always been more of a facilitator. It makes my job so much easier to be surrounded by such great players.”

Gonzaga travels to take on Portland on Saturday for the only game of the week. Fortier said the longer week allows the players to get extra rest and allows coaches to focus on some different things in practice.

“We are in a good position, as long as we take care of the things we are supposed to,” she said. “It’s always tougher the second time around. They know you so much better.”

But Gonzaga will soon have the full services of senior Lindsay Sherbert. She hurt a knee against Iowa but returned to play a few minutes in the road wins over St. Mary’s and Pacific.

“We are thrilled to have her back on the floor,” Fortier said. “Only now has she gone through a full practice. Hopefully, we’ll have her as much as we need her at Portland.”

Cougs hit road

Washington State also is riding a winning streak as it travels this week to the Bay Area to take on No. 12 Stanford and California.

“All three games we had to come from behind and storm back,” coach June Daugherty said. “We were a little out of sync offensively this weekend, which surprised me.”

The Cougars rallied to beat Utah and Colorado in Pullman without the services of senior center Shalie Dheensaw, who was lost for the year at the end of the loss to Oregon State.

“If we continue to improve each day and continue to adjust without Dheensaw, then we certainly have opportunities in front of us to have great success on the road,” Daugherty said.

Stanford beat the Cougs 86-76 in overtime on Jan. 11 and Cal edged Washington State 70-62 on Jan. 9. Both games were in Pullman.

“We felt like we played well enough in both of those games to win,” Daugherty said. “If we can continue to shore up our defense and rebounding … we’ll have a chance.”

Daugherty also took a moment to explain the “monumental” impact that senior guard Tia Presley (Gonzaga Prep) has had for the program.

Presley lost much of her freshman and sophomore years to injury. Last year, she and fellow guard Lia Galdeira were named to the All-Pac 12 team.

“I don’t think people realize all the hard work it was to go through all those injuries,” Daugherty said. “Tia has really evolved not only into a fantastic player, but a fantastic leader in this program.”

At the time of her recruitment, Presley’s mother and sister were relocating to the East Coast.

“She had options to go to a lot of places,” Daugherty said. “We’re glad she stayed at home.”

Big Sky, big whiffs

Both Idaho and Eastern Washington lost a ton of traction in conference as both teams went on the road this past weekend and lost games to Northern Colorado and North Dakota.

Before the losses, the Eagles were second in the conference. Now, the Eagles find themselves in a three-way tie for fourth place.

A year after going 15-1 in the Western Athletic Conference, Idaho now finds itself in 10th place in a 12-team Big Sky.

This week, the Eagles travel to Moscow. The first match between the teams on Jan. 10 was a thriller in Cheney in which the Vandals got within three points with under a minute to play.

But the Eagles hit free throws down the stretch to win 71-65.