Gonzaga women look to end Pacific’s surprising win streak

The longest winning streak in the West Coast Conference is on the line Thursday night at the Kennel.

That it belongs to Pacific and not first-place Gonzaga is a bit of a surprise; then again, the Tigers have surprised a lot of folks with a late-season surge that has them in the top half of the conference standings.

And no one should be less surprised than the Zags, who escaped with an 81-78 win at Pacific in the teams’ first meeting.

There’s plenty at stake in the rematch.

Gonzaga, ranked No. 20, is 23-3 overall and 13-1 in the WCC with four games left and Portland one game behind.

In addition to chasing the WCC regular-season title, which eluded them last year, the Zags are striving for a good seed in the NCAA Tournament – perhaps hosting the first two rounds if they win out and a few other things fall into place.

Pacific is 12-14, 7-8, but the Tigers have won five straight since a loss to San Diego (which also has a five-game win streak).

Since then, the Zags dropped a game at Santa Clara. A week later, they lost starting forward Eliza Hollingsworth to a concussion, but they regrouped with wins over Saint Mary’s and Portland.

Even with Hollingsworth’s services, the Zags were fortunate to get a win on Jan. 19 in Stockton, California.

The Zags led by 16 points midway through the third quarter and by 11 going into the fourth.

The Bulldogs’ defense yielded 30 points in the fourth quarter as Pacific stormed back.

With a chance to win, Pacific missed a shot with 7 seconds left.

“A gutsy win by our team,” GU coach Lisa Fortier said when it was over.

The Zags may need to dig even deeper on Thursday.

Hollingsworth scored 11 points in the first meeting, but she’s questionable, a spokesperson for the program said Wednesday.

Gonzaga put three other players in double figures in that game. Ejim had 22 points along with a game-high 12 rebounds. McKayla Williams scored 17 points in the first half and finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and two steals in one of her best all-around games of the year.

GU’s Kaylynne Truong scored 14 and made all eight of her foul shots. She also had seven assists and six boards.

For Pacific, junior Liz Smith has scored in double figures in 11 of her past 12 games. She leads the Tigers with 14.2 points a game and is fifth in 3-point percentage at 42.1%.

Tigers sophomore Elizabeth Elliott is averaging a team-high 5.9 rebounds. Pacific sophomore Anaya James has 102 assists.