Gonzaga women open season with exhibition against Central Washington

Hopefully, fans won’t approach to Saturday’s exhibition against Central Washington University some sort of measuring stick for how the Gonzaga women will fare this year.

For one thing, CWU is a Division II school that managed to play only two games last year because of COVID-19 restrictions.

For another, expect to see plenty of lineup changes as Coach Lisa Fortier juggles various lineups as they look ahead to a regular season that begins next week.

The Zags also plan to have some fun in front of fans, most of whom haven’t set foot in the McCarthey Athletic Center since February 2020.

“Cardboard figures and fake noise just wasn’t the same thing,” said junior point guard Kayleigh Truong, who hasn’t played in front of a full Kennel crowd since her freshman year.

“This will be a nice way of getting our newbies in front of a crowd,” Truong said.

The most prominent of the newcomers, freshman Bree Salenbien, said she was looking forward to “winning, obviously, and just solidifying roles.”

A five-star recruit from Michigan, the 6-foot-3 Salenbien probably will play at wing, but she’s also seen as a backup at the point behind the Truong sisters, Kayleigh and Kaylynne.

“Myself, I just want to adapt well,” said Salenbien, who admitted to getting something of a wakeup call during a recent closed-door scrimmage at UCLA.

“Those passes don’t go through anymore, and there’s more physicality,” Salenbien said. “But my dad always told me that if you’re not strong, you have to play strong.”

Gonzaga goes into the game unranked in both national polls, though the Zags are receiving votes in the coaches’ poll.

Central Washington played just two games last year, losing both to Great Northwest Athletic Conference rival Western Washington.

The Wildcats return only two players from their last full season in 2019-20, when they went 19-11 overall and 13-7 in the GNAC.

The Zags have a history of cruising in their season-opening exhibitions, winning by an average of 55 points in the last three years. In their last exhibition in 2019, the Bulldogs beat Warner Pacific 105-45.

The regular season begins Thursday, when Montana State visits the Kennel for a 6 p.m. tipoff.