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Gonzaga Women's Basketball

Gonzaga, Eastern women square off on Thursday

Gonzaga forward Kiara Kudron drives to the basket as Stanford forward Erica McCall defends during the second half on Sunday. GU coach Lisa Fortier said the Zags tried to do too much in second half. (Colin Mulvany / The Spokesman-Review)

Reflecting on Gonzaga’s loss to Stanford on Sunday, women’s coach Lisa Fortier said the game got away from the Bulldogs partly because they got away from team concepts, especially on offense.

That in turn led to poor shot selection, as GU missed its last 12 shots en route to a 65-48 loss to the 14th-ranked Cardinal.

“When the chips got down, we had too many people trying to get us back in it themselves,” said Fortier, whose team hosts Eastern Washington in a nonconference game Thursday night.

That will be the first of four games in seven days for the Bulldogs (1-1), who will host West Virginia, Grand Canyon and USC in the Hall of Fame Challenge on consecutive days beginning Sunday.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Fortier said.

First up is an unbeaten Eastern team (2-0) that almost knocked off GU last year in Cheney before falling 61-60 on a last-second jumper by Elle Tinkle.

Any chance for payback by the Eagles will hinge on sisters Hayley and Delaney Hodgins, who combined for 34 points Sunday in a 65-44 win over Air Force.

The Eagles also got eight rebounds from freshman guard Violet Kapri Morrow and six from reserve Amira Chandler.

“I like the energy we’re playing with,” said EWU coach Wendy Schuller, who picked up her 200th career win on Sunday. “We’re still learning a lot defensively … offensively, we’re still finding ourselves.”

With 6-foot-5 post Shelby Cheslek and 6-3 forward Kiara Kudron, the Bulldogs figure to a have a big advantage inside. It would be bigger but for the absence of 6-5 sophomore post Emma Wolfram, who’s recovering from offseason shoulder injury.

Swing player Shaniqua Nilles also is out with a minor knee injury.

Fortier said she couldn’t predict when either player will return.

Cougars to Hawaii

Washington State coach June Daugherty said she saw plenty of things to be excited about following the Cougars’ 68-61 home win over Hampton on Monday night.

The Cougars got off to a fast start, taking a 38-23 halftime lead, then held because their bench outscored the visitors 32-12.

“I loved the way our bench came out and played,” said Daugherty, who also got a big day from freshman Borislava Hristova. The Bulgarian international, one of nine underclassmen on the roster, was 8-for-15 from the field.

Daugherty said the Cougars didn’t do a good job attacking Hampton’s zone defense. “We’re not polished enough right now,” Daugherty sad.

Next up for the Cougars is the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu. WSU will play Nevada on Friday and Hawaii on Sunday.