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Gonzaga Basketball

Ex-GU players have stellar reunion

Blond Bomber Babes’ Rachele Kloke defends as Zag Babes’ Shannon Reader shoots in elite final won by the former GU players. (Tyler Tjomsland)

A team of former Gonzaga women players came together for a reunion and ended up winning a Hoopfest championship.

Taelor Karr, playing with a bandaged and battered right eye, led the Spokane Law Enforcement Credit Union Zag Babes with 12 points in the final game to win 20-17 over the Blond Bomber Babes and earned the MVP honor.

“We haven’t done this before,” said Karr, who is living in Eugene and working for former Gonzaga and current Oregon coach Kelly Graves. “We just wanted to have a reunion. Then we got together and the competitive juices started flowing and we had to win it.”

Karr joined former Gonzaga teammates Jazmine Redmon (Mead), Janelle Beckkering, and Shannon Reader.

“This is amazing to be back with my team,” Redmon said. “We were talking about it all week. Once we hit the floor, those competitive nerves go away.”

Karr, who graduated in 2013, said she hadn’t picked up a basketball in a month. She ended up hitting five 2-pointers, including the game-winner in the championship game.

“We just did the same things we did in college,” she said. “It’s kind of like riding a bicycle.”

Saturday, Karr was defending a pick-and-roll when her oppenent’s elbow smashed just above her right eye. Medical staff glued the wound shut and she slapped a large bandage on it.

“I’m glad we won to make (the black eye) worthwhile,” she said. “I just wanted to come back to Spokane and play well. Winning it makes it all that much better.”