‘Connected’ Gonzaga women reflect on successful season after losing to Texas in Sweet 16
PORTLAND – In years to come, the 2023-24 Gonzaga women’s basketball team will be looked on fondly for many reasons.
Not the least of which is the four graduate starters who returned for an extra year because they were determined to have a storybook season.
The names of twins Kayleigh and Kaylynne Truong, Brynna Maxwell and Eliza Hollingsworth will be ones that players, coaches and fans cite as leaving a legacy at Gonzaga.
Courtney Vandersloot, the greatest Zag – see her jersey in the rafters at McCarthey Athletic Center – was on hand Friday to watch Gonzaga.
The Gonzaga graduates, along with senior Yvonne Ejim, who is returning for an extra year next season, left their handprints all over the season.
Yes, the season ended earlier than the Zags (32-4) wanted following a 69-47 setback to No. 1 seed Texas in the Sweet 16.
The good news is season’s are never summed up in the last game, because in the NCAA Tournament 67 of the 68 teams end their season with a loss.
Could Gonzaga have played better Friday? Yes. It was a difficult way for the Zags’ year to end.
Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier appropriately capsulized the season after the game. She said her team relished advancing to the Sweet 16 for the first time since her first season in 2014-15.
“We enjoyed hosting last week,” Fortier said. “That’s what we need to continue to remind ourselves. As much as we want to be the team that gets there (Sweet 16) all the time, we also definitely don’t want to be the team that gets there and doesn’t have fun doing it.”
In a way, that explains why the four graduates returned this season. Kaylynne Truong said the Zags didn’t enjoy ending the 2022-23 season with back-to-back losses.
“This is one season that I won’t forget,” said Truong, who might as well have been speaking for her sister. “We started as a team that I wouldn’t say was broken, but disconnected a little bit in the beginning of the year. We worked our way through adversity.”
Things were going along swimmingly for the Zags until they didn’t look like themselves in a 67-66 loss to Portland in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game. It was the second straight year Gonzaga fell to Portland in the WCC final.
The Zags did some soul-searching before Selection Sunday. They worked through some issues. And they returned to be themselves in first- and second-round wins at McCarthey last weekend, capped by an exhilarating win over Utah to advance to Portland.
“From the time we lost to Portland until now has been the most fun I’ve had all year,” Fortier said. “It was more fun than beating Stanford. Most fun I’ve had in a lot of years, because we all tried to be present and enjoy it.”
Before ending her postgame comments Friday, Fortier talked about Truong’s thought about being disconnected last year.
“Our goal (this year) was to be the most connected team we could be, the most connected team in the country,” Fortier said. “I think we achieved that. There’s no shame in not getting to the Elite Eight. I wish we did. I wish we got to the Final Four. I wish we got to do all those things. But it’s been an incredible, incredible time. I’m just grateful for it.”