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It’s lights out for Zags

Soutwest Missouri State's Kari Koch, left, recovers a ball tipped by Gonzaga's Shannon Mathews Monday night in the WNIT in Springfield, Mo. (Christina Dicken/Special to / The Spokesman-Review)
Steve Koehler Special to The Spokesman-Review
Soutwest Missouri State's Kari Koch, left, recovers a ball tipped by Gonzaga's Shannon Mathews Monday night in the WNIT in Springfield, Mo. (Christina Dicken/Special to / The Spokesman-Review)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – It was not the kind of basketball battle Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves wanted to be in.

He knew if Monday’s second-round Women’s NIT game with Southwest Missouri State came down to a 3-point contest, his Bulldogs would be in for a long night.

That’s exactly what happened.

The Lady Bears hit 11 of 19 3-pointers compared to 7 of 21 for the Bulldogs (28-4) and Southwest Missouri (22-8) won 85-66 to move into the quarterfinals.

“We couldn’t stop them. They make their 3s,” Graves said. “Some kids can’t make 11 of 19 layins. We shot 21 3s. That’s out of character for us. They make 3s, you make 2s. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out you lose that way.”

In addition to scoring from afar, the Lady Bears packed in their zone defense and prevented GU from using its height advantage.

“We don’t see very many zones. They do a good job. We wanted to get the ball inside. We’re a bigger team at 6-3 and 6-1, but they broke us down on the dribble,” he said.

The Lady Bears were led by senior forward Jennie Lingor, who scored 22 points, including 12 straight midway through the second half that pushed Southwest Missouri to its biggest lead of the game, 74-54, with 7:56 left.

“I didn’t know I had 12 in a row. I just found in the second half they were letting me pull up for the shot,” said Lingor, Most Valuable Player in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Gonzaga’s two leading scorers were held well under their averages.

Ashley Burke, averaging 14.7 points per game, scored nine and Shannon Mathews, who averaged 11.8, scored a 3-pointer in the first half for her game total. Neither came to the post-game press conference.

“(Mathews) had 24 in her last game and to hold her to three is huge for us. The key was to make sure she didn’t spot up and shoot,” said Southwest Missouri coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson.

Stephanie Hawk, who led the Bulldogs with 16 points, said the Southwest Missouri defense kept the Zags from executing on offense.

“We wanted to move the ball around and look inside and to the high post,” she said.

Gonzaga’s last lead was 8-7 with 15:09 left in the first half. The Bulldogs used a late burst to cut a 10-point deficit to five, but the Lady Bears used runs late in the first half and early in the second to break it open.

Raeanna Jewell added 13 points and Anne Bailey scored 12 for GU.