Gonzaga women drop third straight to South Dakota State 72-63

When the regular season concludes and the Gonzaga women’s basketball team takes a moment to reflect, it’s likely that the Bulldogs will regard South Dakota State as one of the best teams they played.

South Dakota State, unanimously ranked No. 1 among mid-major teams by College Insider, showed why as the Jackrabbits held off Gonzaga 72-63 in a neutral-site game at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

For Gonzaga, a good start was offset dramatically by too many turnovers and lack of 3-point defense. The Zags committed a season-high 22 turnovers and the Jackrabbits made 12 of 25 from beyond the 3-point arc to the Zags’ 4 of 19.

The Zags’ defensive focus – and rightly so – was on limiting 6-foot-2 senior forward Brooklyn Meyer, the preseason Summit League Player of the Year who entered the game averaging 26 points per game. She didn’t take a shot in the first quarter, finishing with a season-low nine.

“She’s a heckuva player and she shoots it,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “She’s shot it 30 more times than her teammates so far this year. So they don’t miss her. The ball goes in there every possession. We over-helped at times and then it made getting out to their 3-point shooters more challenging.”

Gonzaga kept up with the Jackrabbits (5-0) in the first quarter, going into the second tied at 17-17. But inconsistent offense coupled with turnovers caught up with the Zags (2-3). A 3-pointer from Maggie Hartwig with a second left allowed SDSU to take a 44-31 lead into halftime.

Gonzaga redshirt freshman forward Lauren Whittaker scored seven straight points to pull the Bulldogs within 35-29 with 2:42 to go before halftime. But SDSU used an 8-2 surge to close out the half.

SDSU, which is receiving votes in the Associated Press poll, outscored the Zags 27-14 in the second.

The Zags fell behind by as many as 16 points twice in the second half and never cut the advantage to single digits until a 3-pointer from Allie Turner accounted for the final margin.

Gonzaga couldn’t dig out of the first-half deficit. Eleven turnovers in both halves were too much to overcome.

“Our defense didn’t make adjustments soon enough,” Fortier said. “It didn’t execute the game plan well enough because, believe it or not, it wasn’t to let them (shoot that many 3-pointers). And that coupled with turning the ball over.”

Turner, who made her first three shots to spark Gonzaga’s start, finished with a game-high 19 points. Whittaker had her first double-double with 15 and 13 rebounds. Freshman forward Jaiden Haile had eight points and eight rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.

Gonzaga returns home Sunday against Eastern Washington. Tip is at 2 p.m.