Rebounding, free-throw shooting carry Gonzaga women past Portland

PORTLAND – Their season scoring leader didn’t make a field goal and their 3-point shooting faltered.

Still, the Gonzaga Bulldogs used balanced scoring, rebounding power and free-throw shooting Thursday to ease past Portland 70-56 in West Coast Conference women’s basketball.

Zykera Rice scored 14 points and Chandler Smith added 11 points and eight rebounds to help the Zags improve to 5-0 in conference and 12-4 overall.

Gonzaga broke away from the Pilots (4-12, 0-5) with a 24-12 third quarter after entering halftime protecting a 31-28 lead.

The Zags opened the second half with a 7-0 run, including two layups by Emma Stach.

The Bulldogs outrebounded Portland 46-29 and finished 23 for 31 from the line.

Those efforts made up for Gonzaga’s 3-for-19 shooting from long range.

Zags season scoring leader Jill Barta missed all three of her field-goal attempts and finished with four points. Barta picked up her fourth foul with 5:39 left and the Zags ahead by 17 points. She didn’t return.

Gonzaga shot 22 of 63 (35 percent) from the floor while Portland finished 20 of 50 (40 percent).

The Bulldogs finished with 13 steals, 10 more than Portland.

Darian Slaga led the Pilots with 14 points.