No. 16 Gonzaga women aim to turn defense around at Saint Mary’s
There’s little chance the Gonzaga women will take anything for granted Saturday afternoon at Saint Mary’s.
Not only are the Zags coming off a near upset loss at Pacific, they also know the recent history of their rivalry with the Gaels.
Twice in the past five seasons, Saint Mary’s handed Gonzaga its only loss on the way to West Coast Conference regular-season titles. It happened in 2018 in Spokane, but more to the point, the Gaels repeated the feat at home in 2020 against arguably the best team of coach Lisa Fortier’s time as head coach.
The current edition of the Zags is making a run for that distinction. They Bulldogs have won 11 straight, sit at 16th in The Associated Press poll and are 8-0 in the WCC. They still have a shot at becoming the first team to go 18-0 in the WCC.
Then again, they’re still shorthanded, and for the first time in the conference season, they were outplayed in the fourth quarter.
On Thursday, the Zags gave up 30 points in the final quarter and almost lost as Pacific made 12 of 18 shots from the field and got 19 points off turnovers.
“Our defense certainly wasn’t at its best,” Fortier said.
Saint Mary’s had the opposite problem Thursday. The Gaels had won three in a row going into a home game against second-place Portland, but they shot just 33% from the field and made just one 3-pointer in eight attempts.
Saint Mary’s went on to lose 64-41, and it wasn’t even that close; the Gaels trailed by 28 going into the fourth quarter.
That left the Gaels at 10-9 overall and 4-4 in the WCC, two games behind third-place BYU going into Saturday’s 1 p.m. tipoff in Moraga, California.
Saint Mary’s has relied on junior forward Ali Bamberger. A 6-foot-3 transfer from Washington, Bamberger sat out the 2020-21 season with a knee injury but came back the make the WCC all-conference team.
This year she leads the Gaels in scoring (15.0 ppg) and rebounding (8.2 rpg), though she’s shooting only 48.2% from the field. Guard Taycee Wedin (11.8 ppg) is the Gaels’ biggest outside-shooting threat with a 36.5% average.
Gonzaga keeps finding new ways to hurt opponents. Pacific focused on shutting down outside threat Brynna Maxwell, only to see defensive standout McKayla Williams score 19 points.
Along the way, Williams went 8 for 14 from the field and 3 of 5 from long range. She also had seven rebounds and two steals.
GU’s Kaylynne Truong scored 14 and made all eight of her foul shots. She also had seven assists and six boards.
Gonzaga is back home Thursday against Loyola Marymount.