Gonzaga women to face San Francisco in WCC semifinals

LAS VEGAS – Bring on the Dons.

On Monday afternoon, and with higher stakes, the Gonzaga women will get their third test of the season against San Francisco.

The third-seeded Dons held off Santa Clara 72-63 on Saturday night to set up a West Coast Conference semifinal matchup with the Zags at the Orleans Arena.

“We’re really excited to be playing Gonzaga again,” coach Molly Goodenbour said after the Dons survived several Santa Clara rallies.

USF won despite making just 4 of 21 long-range shots and getting outrebounded 46-32.

The Dons made a living out the foul line, going 16 for 23. Santa Clara was 2 for 3.

Third-seeded USF hadn’t played in a week. Santa Clara came into the game with tournament wins over Pacific and Santa Clara.

The Dons (17-14), however, were the sharper team in the early going, leading 20-5 late in the first quarter.

USF led 34-26 at the half despite making just 1 of 9 outside shots.

The Dons had four players in double figures. All-WCC guard Ioanna Krimili played 39-plus minutes and finished with a game-high 18 points.

Forward Kennedy Dickie added 12 points and seven rebounds.

Gonzaga swept the two games this year against USF, though both were close.

Gonzaga took the first meeting with USF 55-49 in Spokane on Feb. 7. Two weeks later in the Bay Area, the Zags rallied from six points down with less than a minute to play to win 83-82 on a buzzer-beating layup by Melody Kempton.

Ashley Hiraki led Santa Clara with 17 points.

In the other quarterfinal, fourth-seeded Portland cruised to a 69-44 win over Loyola Marymount. The Pilots (19-9) will face top-seeded BYU in the first semifinal at noon.

Liberty High School product Maisie Burnham, a transfer from Eastern Washington, had a game-high 18 points for Portland.