Gonzaga women clamp down on defense, run away from Oregon State 67-37

So much for the Gonzaga and Oregon State women’s basketball teams following what had become a tightly played script the last two years.

Nobody had Gonzaga handling the team picked to win the West Coast Conference championship by 30 points on their bingo card Thursday.

If the Bulldogs had shot any sort of warm percentage, their 67-37 win over the Beavers could have been worse. Much worse.

Two weeks after slipping 92-87 in overtime at Oregon State, Gonzaga evened the WCC regular-season series before 5,179 at McCarthey Athletic Center.

It appears Gonzaga and Oregon State are headed to a rubber match. Perhaps a third showdown – in the WCC Tournament championship game – is in the offing.

The Zags pulled into a tie atop the WCC, improving to 17-7, 9-2. OSU slipped to the same marks, losing for just the second time in the last 13 games and watching a four-game winning streak snapped.

Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier wanted to see toughness from her team. In fact, she emphasized the theme twice during her pregame instructions. Multiple times her players dove for loose balls, burning their knees on the court, fought for held balls and won most of the 50-50 battles for loose balls.

“That was on our scouting report twice in two different segments,” Fortier said of the emphasis on tenaciousness. “We had offensive and defensive toughness.”

It started from the opening tip. The Zags didn’t get beat off dribble-drive penetration and rarely lost track of where the Beavers’ best offensive threats were.

And the Zags had a season low for turnovers with seven – just one in the first half. They threatened their record for fewest turnovers (six), a mark set in 2023-24.

At OSU, the Zags had 19 turnovers that resulted in 25 points for the Beavers. At one point, Gonzaga had 16 points off OSU turnovers Thursday to none for the Beavers.

The Beavers uncharacteristically committed 20 turnovers – most of which were caused by Gonzaga’s active zone and man-to-man defenses.

Gonzaga’s lone senior, guard Ines Bettencourt, picked an opportune time to have her best game in her two-year Zags career. Left alone behind the 3-point line because the Beavers were sagging on freshman sensation Lauren Whittaker, the UConn transfer made her first three 3-point attempts. She finished 5 of 9 from long range with 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Bettencourt said she took it as disrespect that the Beavers left her open.

“For sure. I took it personal, but then in the second quarter they started chasing me around so I was like you guys got it,” Bettencourt said.

Bettencourt praised her teammates for the intensity with which they played.

“We didn’t really execute (at OSU),” Bettencourt said. “We get defensive stops then we get offense, good shots.”

Fortier challenged all of her players to shoot when they were open – to try to counter OSU’s assortment of defensive schemes.

“One of our keys was being confident, being ready and if they want to sag off, just shoot it,” Bettencourt said.

Gonzaga sophomore guard Teryn Gardner hit a deep 3-pointer to give the Zags’ their biggest lead in the first half, 34-19, with 3 minutes, 18 seconds remaining in the second.

That’s when the Zags hit a cold spell, making just 1 of their last 10 shots in the final three minutes. Still, two free throws from freshman forward Lauren Whittaker gave Gonzaga a 36-23 lead at halftime.

Gonzaga had stretches of cold shooting in the second half. But the Beavers were colder. OSU made just 1 of 20 from 3-point range and 13 of 53 overall.

The Zags finished 24 of 77 from the field and 7 of 30 from behind the 3-point arc. But they beat OSU on the boards (54-43) and took 24 more shots than the Beavers.

OSU coach Scott Rueck pulled his starters in the third quarter, and they sat the bench the rest of the way.

Whittaker matched Bettencourt’s 15 points and posted her 12th double-double of the season with 12 rebounds. Junior transfer forward Taylor Smith made 6-of-8 shots from the field for 12 points to go with five rebounds.

How cold were the Zags at times? Five players combined to go 0 of 27 from the field.

It was the fewest points by an OSU team since Dec. 19, 2012 – when the Beavers scored 35 against Michigan State.

The Beavers had four players in double figures in the first matchup. No player reached double figures Thursday.

The 37 points were the fewest allowed by the Zags. The previous low was 42 on Jan. 17 against San Diego.

Gonzaga plays at home Saturday against Pacific (9-13, 4-7), which upset Santa Clara 90-82 on Thursday.