GU women open against Vandals

The Gonzaga University women’s basketball team opens the regular season against Idaho tonight at 6 p.m. in the McCarthey Athletic Center. The Zags are led by senior guard Haiden Palmer. She averaged 12.5 points last year on the team that went 15-1 in league to win the West Coast Conference. GU, which lost its NCAA tournament opener to Iowa State, finished 27-6 overall. Idaho is also playing its first game. The Vandals finished 17-16 last year and 11-7 in the Western Athletic Conference before winning the conference tournament to reach the NCAA tournament. The Vandals lost to Connecticut in their opening game. Alyssa Charlston, who averaged 13.4 points last year, is the leading returning scorer for Idaho. Tonight’s game is an opening-round game of the preseason WNIT.