Gonzaga women survive Pacific 68-64 after Yvonne Ejim returns from foul trouble

It’s no secret the Gonzaga women’s basketball team functions at its best when Yvonne Ejim is on the court.

When she finds herself in foul trouble, as she did Saturday afternoon, Gonzaga’s offense frequently becomes stagnant.

It happened once in the first half and at a pivotal point late in the third quarter when Ejim picked up her third and fourth fouls.

When Ejim returned with 4 minutes and 31 seconds remaining, Pacific led 60-58. But Ejim scored eight of the Bulldogs’ final 10 points, adding three rebounds, a key steal and making 4 of 4 free throws to lift Gonzaga to a 68-64 West Coast Conference win for a ninth straight win in front of 5,328 at McCarthey Athletic Center.

Ejim made her presence felt immediately when she returned. She hit a 17-foot jumper, tying the score at 60 with 3:58 left.

After Pacific tied the score one final time, Ejim made a driving basket to put the Zags ahead to stay at 64-62 with 50 seconds remaining.

“One of the first possessions, I thought let’s get a score and we need to stop and rebound,” Ejim said. “Just making sure I’m putting my mind toward what the team needs in that moment and what we needed was a score, stop, score and stack them back to back.”

It was obvious the game’s momentum turned late in the third quarter when Ejim picked up two fouls in a span of 1:08. Gonzaga, which had its biggest lead at 16 points in the first half, led 49-44 when Ejim was whistled for her third foul.

Pacific used a 3-pointer to pull within 49-47 a moment later. Ejim’s fourth foul came with 20 seconds left in the quarter.

Gonzaga led 51-49 going into the fourth quarter.

Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier had to weigh whether to take Ejim out after she picked up her third foul.

“She ended up picking up her fourth one pretty quick,” Fortier said. “She’s usually pretty smart around that. I have a pretty good feel for when to sub her and when not to, and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.”

It was a grind-it-out, possession-by-possession game in the final quarter, and with Ejim out the offense felt disjointed at times. Still, the Zags hunkered down. Freshman point guard Allie Turner hit a critical 3-pointer at the 7:38 mark, giving Gonzaga a 56-53 lead.

Moments later, Pacific took its first lead at 57-56 when Jamie Kent got a putback with 6:19 to play.

“Our team did a nice job of weathering that storm when (Ejim) was out,” Fortier said.

Ejim, who Thursday became the first GU player to score more than 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds, moved within 15 points of the Zags’ all-time scoring record held by Heather Bowman.

Ejim finished with a game-high 23 to go with 12 rebounds and three steals. It was her 34th double-double and the 65th time she has scored in double figures.

Turner wasn’t happy with six turnovers she committed. But she made up for it by being a key offensive player. She had 22 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Turner has been thrust into a key role as a true freshman unlike any previous point guard. She was defended tough by Pacific.

“We talked about it in the locker room about how tough it was going to be for the point guards to be defended by their two guards,” Turner said. “I did have a lot of turnovers, so that wasn’t great … but as a team we handled that pressure nicely.”

Gonzaga improved to 15-8 overall, 10-2 in the WCC. The Zags continue in first place – one game ahead of Portland. It’s actually a bigger lead considering the Zags have swept Portland.

Just when it looks like the Zags are making progress in the turnover department, they went and committed six in the second quarter andfive in the last 3 minutes to give Pacific some hope.

Gonzaga had another solid first quarter, opening a double-digit lead before taking a 23-13 advantage into the second.

Then the Zags got into a good flow, capped by Turner’s 3-pointer for their biggest lead at 36-20 with 3:29 left in the first half.

Gonzaga went scoreless thereafter, and the Tigers used an 8-0 surge to pull within 36-28. Marina Radocaj made a basket at the buzzer for Pacific.

Saturday was GU’s first game against Pacific. The Zags finally face Saint Mary’s for the first time on Thursday in Moraga, California.