‘I couldn’t have written it up any better’: Gonzaga senior Abby O’Connor offers versatile play for ninth-seeded Bulldogs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – As the Selection Sunday celebration ended, Abby O’Connor took a long look around the McCarthey Athletic Center.

“I couldn’t have written it up any better,” said O’Connor, a senior wing at Gonzaga. “It’s been the best.”

Although she’s too shy to say it, O’Connor has been at her best when the Zags needed it most.

The Zags earned a No. 9 seed in the Wichita Regional partly because O’Connor was the difference maker in Quad-1 wins over Utah and BYU.

Without them, they might be playing in the WNIT. Instead, they will face No. 8 seed Nebraska in a first-round game NCAA Friday afternoon.

Tip-off is at 12:30 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville, an easy drive from O’Connor’s hometown of South Bend, Indiana.

The selection show had barely ended when O’Connor got the texts from friends, family and old teammates from Loyola of Chicago, where she played for three years.

“There will definitely be some people here for me,” O’Connor said.

In that sense, O’Connor’s collegiate career has come full circle. She was a star at Loyola, leading the Ramblers in scoring and rebounding in two of her three seasons.

One of three players to leave the program in the spring of 2020, she signed with Gonzaga, sight unseen. Because of NCAA transfer rules, O’Connor expected to lose a year of eligibility.

Instead, she was able to play most of the season after NCAA approved her waiver in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That was amazing,” said O’Connor, who got double-digit minutes on the court in all but five games that year.

When she wasn’t playing, the 6-foot O’Connor drew inspiration from the player she was expected to replace, All-West Coast Conference wing Jill Townsend.

“I watched ‘Townie’ to see how she played and be able to fill in some of her rebounding and defense,” O’Connor said.

Townsend was one of the most versatile players in program history, but O’Connor wasn’t expected to check all those boxes.

“My focus is usually defensive, whatever that task is, and knowing that I need to get on the boards for any extra offense that we can get,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor did just that against Utah in the first game of the Rainbow Wahine Showcase in Hawaii.

Five days earlier, O’Connor had missed all six shots in a four-point home loss to No. 7 Stanford. But against the Utes, she enjoyed the best game of her GU career.

Connor made 9 of 11 shots and scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Zags to an 89-71 win that wasn’t that close.

“A lot of credit to my teammates for making the reads and giving me perfect passes,” O’Connor said after the game. “They are the best and believe in me, so all credit to them for continuing to give me confidence.”

At the time, it was regarded as just another win, as Utah was picked to finish 11th in the Pac-12. The Utes, however, recovered to become one of the bigger surprises in women’s basketball this year and helped Gonzaga’s resume at the same time.

O’Connor struggled with her outside shot for much of the year. During one seven-game stretch – including both regular-season losses to BYU – she was 2 for 21 from beyond the arc.

Fellow starter Anamaria Virjoghe also had some tough shooting nights, which led to criticism of both players on social media.

“I’ve been chastised throughout the year for my starting lineup, because some people think it should be something different,” Fortier said.

The second-guessers are quiet now, as both players shined in the West Coast Conference Tournament. In wins over USF and BYU, she had a combined 17 points and 15 boards.

“I feel like I’m shooting a lot of the same shots,” O’Connor said. “Luckily, they were falling.”