Gonzaga women hope to bounce back from loss at BYU, hosting Santa Clara on Monday

The Gonzaga women and their fans hope to regain a semblance of normalcy Monday afternoon at the Kennel.

That won’t be easy. The Zags are coming off a 63-39 loss on Saturday at BYU, and Monday’s contest against Santa Clara tips off at the unusual time of 2 p.m.

However, concessions at the Kennel will be open for the final three games of the regular season.

There’s plenty to play for. Gonzaga is 21-6 overall and 12-2 in the West Coast Conference and assured of at least a second-place finish.

GU still has a chance for a share of the regular-season title should front-running BYU stumble in its final two games. The Zags also are in the hunt for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament ; however, they fell five spots, to 30th, on Sunday in the NCAA NET rankings.

Job one on Monday is to jump start an offense that on Saturday was held to its lowest point total in 21 years. Not since a 60-37 defeat at Loyola Marymount in 2001 had GU been held under 40 points.

“They were better than us today,” Fortier said after the loss to 20th-ranked BYU.

But while GU is 4-6 against BYU in the last five seasons, it’s 71-4 against the rest of the conference; the trend should continue this week against Santa Clara, Pepperdine and LMU.

On paper, the toughest will be against Santa Clara, which is battling for a top-three finish in the West Coast Conference and is coming off a 76-66 win over Portland.

The Broncos (14-11, 8-7) is getting a conference-leading 19.6 points a game from senior guard Lindsey VanAllen.

Forward Merle Wiehl averages 6.9 rebounds – good for fifth in the conference – and 12.4 points.

The game was originally scheduled for Jan. 8 but postponed by COVID-19 protocols.