Gonzaga women ratchet up defense in win over Washington State 75-50
It happened before and it occurred a third time Thursday.
The Gonzaga women’s basketball team followed up a West Coast Conference loss with a victory, as the Bulldogs ran away from Washington State 75-50 before 5,193 at McCarthey Athletic Center.
One doesn’t have to be a math major to see the difference between the first game between Gonzaga and Washington State. The Zags scored nearly the same amount of points Thursday as they did in Pullman on Jan. 31, but this time they limited the Cougars to 25 fewer.
The Zags had more intensity offensively and defensively from the tip as opposed to their effort at Loyola Marymount on Saturday.
“The biggest thing and difference between the last time we played these guys and even on Saturday (at LMU) was just our intensity was a lot better,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said.
WSU coach Kamie Ethridge said the Zags were much different than in Pullman.
“They made a real assertive point to pressure us,” Ethridge said. “The first quarter they were just chest to chest and not letting us get easy reversals.”
Gonzaga remained tied with Loyola Marymount atop the WCC. The Zags got their 20th win – the 10th year in a row with 20 or more wins – as they improved to 20-8, 12-3 in WCC.
Right in the middle of Gonzaga’s increased intensity offensively and defensively was lone senior Ines Bettencourt. She scored 12 of her team-high 16 points in the first half and limited WSU’s leading scorer, junior guard Eleonora Villa, to 10.
Bettencourt credited the Kennel for Gonzaga’s increased intensity.
“It’s always easy to play at home with this crowd,” she said. “It’s like our Sixth Man, you know. We’re coming to the end of the (regular season) and we just gotta get our habits, build our habits and just get it going for the last couple games and then the (WCC) tournament.”
The Zags got out to a 13-4 lead and led 17-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Four 3-pointers allowed Gonzaga to start pulling away in the second. Sophomore transfer guard Teryn Gardner hit two of them and sophomore guard Allie Turner hit one before a long-range basket from Bettencourt gave the Zags their biggest lead at 38-19 with 3 minutes, 42 seconds to go before halftime.
Gonzaga wouldn’t score again in the half. WSU pulled within 38-23, taking advantage of a couple Bulldog turnovers.
The Zags’ freshman forwards were double trouble for the Cougars. Lauren Whittaker, who is destined to be named the WCC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, had her 14th double-double, 14 points and 11 rebounds. Jaiden Haile added 13 points and 11 rebounds for her third double-double in 20 minutes off the bench.
Whittaker and Haile were the reasons Gonzaga outrebounded an opponent for the 27th time out of 28 games. The Bulldogs won the boards 43-26.
In the second half, the Zags didn’t let off the throttle on offense or defense. Early in the third quarter, WSU (5-23, 4-11) got within 11 points. But the Bulldogs soon left the Cougars in their rear-view mirror.
Whittaker muscled in a basket to give Gonzaga a 59-38 lead with 1:30 to go in the third.
She had one of her too-difficult-to-defend spinning pivots in the fourth, scoring inside to give the Bulldogs their biggest lead at 68-41 with 7:23 remaining.
Turner added 10 points, two assists and three rebounds for the balanced Zags.
Fortier said rebounding is a specific area she has emphasized with the Zags, who outscored WSU 16-2 in second-chance points.
“The message to our team is you gotta find areas where you can impact the game,” Fortier said. “And (rebounding) has become an area that we’re really good. We have a lot of people who can do it. And we have a couple of people who are elite (at it).”
Gonzaga plays its next-to-last road game Saturday when it visits Pacific (11-15, 6-9). Also Saturday, WSU travels to Oregon State (19-9, 11-4).
The Zags return home next Thursday for their final game in the Kennel on Senior Day when Bettencourt and Vera Gunyadin will be honored.