Thomas Clouse

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team suffered through one of its worst outside-shooting games of the year, but Sunny Greinacher had a career day to fuel a 76-62 win Saturday over visiting Loyola Marymount.

Pepperdine scratched within four points with just more than a minute to play, but the Gonzaga women’s basketball team hit free throws when they mattered Thursday night to secure a 73-64 win in front of 4,981 at McCarthey Athletic Center. With the win, Gonzaga (13-4, 6-0 West Coast Conference) moves into sole possession of first place in the West Coast Conference after Pacific (14-4, 5-1) fell to BYU (14-4, 6-1) in Provo, Utah.

The Washington State women’s basketball team found out twice last week how razor-thin the margin can be between winning and finding itself in a 1-3 hole to start conference play. The Cougars clawed their way back to within six points of California’s lead with 2:27 remaining Friday before its shooters went cold in the 70-62 defeat in Pullman.

In a Big Sky thriller, Eastern Washington women’s basketball team lost a big lead but found a way to rally late in the game to defeat Idaho Saturday with a 71-65 victory in Cheney. The Eagles (10-4, 3-0 Big Sky) have won six in a row after dispatching rival Idaho, which falls to 7-7, 1-2 in conference.

The Whitworth women’s basketball team is off to the best start in program history after crushing visiting Linfield 77-37 on Friday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse. The Pirates (13-0, 4-0 NWC) led from the beginning, and the Wildcats did not have an answer for junior guard KC McConnell until it was too late. The junior guard scored a game-high 23 points and had nine rebounds.

Linfield kept making runs but the Whitworth men’s basketball team answered them all and raced to a 79-63 victory over the Wildcats in front of 915 fans Friday night at Whitworth Fieldhouse. The Pirates improved to 11-2 overall, 4-0 in the Northwest Conference.

Linfield kept making runs but the Whitworth men’s basketball team answered them all and raced to a 79-63 victory over the Wildcats in front of 915 fans Friday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse.

In a basketball game with 23 lead changes, the Whitworth Pirates finally found enough offense at the end beat the Whitman Missionaries 65-57 on Tuesday night at the Whitworth Fieldhouse. The Missionaries challenged every pass and dribble and forced 15 Whitworth turnovers. But coach Matt Logie said he was proud of how his team handled the constant pressure.

When the season began, the Gonzaga women’s basketball team’s half-court offense more resembled a game of keep-away than players coordinating an attack. Lisa Fortier began her head coaching career without two senior guards, Haiden Palmer and Jazmine Redmon, who were leaders that previous teams could rely upon for scoring, defense and hustle. As a result, the Zags (10-4, 3-0 WCC) lost some early games as they struggled to find consistency among new players.

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team finally trailed in a conference game when Portland hit its opening shot Saturday. But it didn’t last long as the Bulldogs raced to a 79-57 victory before 5,072 fans at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Gonzaga (10-4, 3-0 WCC) came into the game having led for the last 104 minutes, including never trailing in big wins last week over BYU and San Diego.

The Gonzaga women’s basketball team rode a career shooting night from Elle Tinkle all the way to a convincing 67-49 win Monday night over conference rival San Diego.

The Whitworth men’s basketball team found open shots all day and tied a school record with 19 3-pointers as the Pirates crushed visiting Wells College 84-43 on Monday.

Whitworth took a while to get going but never surrendered the lead to Marian (Wisconsin) in a 78-64 men’s basketball win Sunday on the Pirates’ home court. The Pirates improved to 6-2 and host Wells College today at noon in their final nonconference game before opening Northwest Conference play.