Gonzaga women falter late in loss to San Francisco

San Francisco’s Rachel Howard hit a three with 1:37 left to capture a lead it would not relinquish, and Gonzaga fell 77-72 on Thursday night in West Coast Conference play in San Francisco.

Gonzaga (21-5, 12-3) had its 12-game win streak snapped, but retained first place in the conference. The Zags went 0 for 11 from beyond the arc, the first time this season without a 3-pointer, and the game featured 10 lead changes.

San Francisco, meanwhile, went 11 of 26 from beyond the arc and shot 42 percent overall.

Gonzaga dominated points in the paint, 40-10, but ran into three empty possessions late.

Jill Barta had her ninth game with 20-plus points on the season, leading all scorers with 26. Laura Stockton scored 12 points and Kiara Kudron added 14 with nine rebounds to lead the Zags.

Gonzaga won the rebounding battle 41-35 and 19-13 in offensive rebounds.

Howard finished with 23 points and six assists for San Francisco, while Anna Seilund added 21 points and seven boards.

A rebound and two free throws from Elle Tinkle made it 66-62 Zags with 5:45 to play. Both teams hit an empty streak from the field for over three minutes until the three-minute mark, with Gonzaga up 66-64.

Two USF free throws by Howard tied it at 66 with a little over two minutes to play. Kudron hit a layup to regain the lead, but Howard responded with a 3 to take the final lead at 1:37.

Gonzaga struggled to finish from the field down the stretch, going 1 of 4 while San Francsico made its free throws to keep Gonzaga at bay.

The Zags look to rebound at Pacific on Saturday at 2 p.m.