Gonzaga women capture 20th consecutive win over San Diego 66-56

The farewell tour in the West Coast Conference continued Thursday for the Gonzaga women’s basketball team against the next-to-last-place San Diego Toreros.

The Bulldogs’ series dominance over San Diego stayed on course Thursday, but Gonzaga had to overcome some sloppy execution before taking a 66-56 decision at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego.

Winners of five straight, Gonzaga (19-7, 11-2 WCC) finishes its final trip through Southern California at Loyola Marymount (16-8, 10-3), which remained a game behind the Zags with a 72-62 win over Pepperdine.

Freshman forward Lauren Whittaker posted her record 14th double-double, leading the Zags with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Junior transfer guard Zeryhia Aokuso was the only other Gonzaga player to reach double-figure scoring with 12.

“Every game is just the ability for us to grow as a team,” Whittaker said during an interview with ESPN+. “This is what we really have to push to make those big jumps and hopefully do well at the (WCC) Tournament.”

Whittaker said she takes a simple approach each game.

“Just being a little more poised and staying on balance,” Whittaker said.

It was Gonzaga’s 20th straight win over San Diego (9-18, 3-11). The Zags are 63-2 against the Toreros.

The Bulldogs never trailed Thursday.

“I thought our team was patient in a lot of the possessions looking for a great shot and not settling for a good shot,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “Wish we would have come out with a little more energy and intensity. The separation finally came when we got on the glass, got some stops and got some rebounds.”

Despite committing 20 turnovers, the Zags built as much as a 15-point lead when Aokuso made a jump shot with 4 minutes, 33 seconds remaining.

Gonzaga lost track of San Diego sophomore guard Kylie Ray for three quarters. She scored 12 points in the third, increasing her total to 25. But the Zags clamped down in the final period, not allowing Ray to score.

“We made some adjustments in the fourth quarter by paying a little more attention to her,” Fortier said. “There are players out there who had zero points and she had 25. So we just tried to take a step closer to her. We executed the defensive game plan a lot better in the fourth than we had through three.”

San Diego cut Gonzaga’s lead under double digits with a 3-pointer, pulling within 62-54 with 1:17 to go. But two free throws from Allie Turner and Ines Bettencourt in the final 1:06 secured the win for Gonzaga.

The Zags were called for three illegal screens in the first half, culminating with nine turnovers.

Gonzaga took advantage of 11 turnovers by San Diego. The Zags scored 14 points off Toreros mistakes.

A 7-0 surge late in the first quarter gave Gonzaga an 18-13 going into the second.

A basket by junior forward McKynnlie Dalan off an assist from Whittaker gave Gonzaga its biggest lead at 35-26 with 1:26 left before halftime.

The most intriguing result Thursday was in Corvallis, Oregon, where visiting Santa Clara (19-7, 9-4) rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit to hand Oregon State (17-9, 9-4) its third straight loss, 83-70.

OSU was the preseason pick by the coaches to win the WCC.

Gonzaga had to go to double overtime before topping LMU 87-80 last month.

“They’re playing very well, very confident,” Fortier said of LMU. “They’re executing at a high level and guarding people. I know they’ll be excited for the game on Saturday and hopefully we will be, too.”