Gonzaga women denied share of WCC title after overtime loss to Portland 92-91

Gonzaga women’s basketball coach Lisa Fortier might need to do a toe check on her players on the short flight back from Portland to see how many they have left.

Considering the turnovers, lack of defensive stops and too many allowed 3-point shots, the Zags shot a number of their toes off.

Credit to Portland for creating much of the chaos and taking advantage of Gonzaga’s mistakes, as the Pilots held off the Bulldogs 92-91 in overtime in a West Coast Conference regular-season finale Saturday at the Chiles Center in Portland.

The loss kept Gonzaga from claiming a share of the conference championship in its final season in the WCC. It didn’t impact its WCC Tournament seeding, though. The Zags will be the second seed and get a triple-bye into the semifinals.

Gonzaga tied a season high for turnovers with 26. The Pilots scored 35 points off the Zags’ mistakes. Counting the 23 turnovers the Bulldogs committed in the first matchup, that’s 52 in two games against Portland.

Portland made 13 of 37 attempts from 3-point range including a wide open 3 from Florence Dallow with one second left in regulation that forced overtime.

“It’s a bummer,” Fortier said. “I just thought we were going to win the game. We finally caught some traction in the third quarter and had some (poor) decisions in the fourth. We had some missed defensive assignments in both the fourth and the overtime that cost us.”

Gonzaga made 2 of 12 from long range – just one in four quarters, two days after Allie Turner made 9 of 14 by herself in a home finale against Saint Mary’s.

With Gonzaga’s loss, Loyola Marymount, picked to finish ninth by the WCC coaches in a preseason poll, capture the conference championship – its first since 2003-04.

Gonzaga slipped to 22-9, 14-4 in the WCC. Portland moved to 17-13 and 11-7.

Loyola Marymount earned the title in a dramatic 71-69 win in overtime over Oregon State.

It was Gonzaga’s first regular-season loss to Portland under Fortier (23-1).

Gonzaga freshman forward Lauren Whittaker made a window-dressing 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a one-point margin.

The Zags followed a sloppy first half by outscoring the Pilots 31-22 in the third quarter for a 60-55 lead going into the fourth.

Baskets by Taylor Smith and Whittaker gave Gonzaga its biggest lead at 64-55 with 8 minutes, 22 seconds remaining in the third.

Then Gonzaga committed five turnovers in its next six possessions, and all of a sudden Portland tied the game at 66-66.

Two free throws from Zeryhia Aokuso gave Gonzaga a 68-66 lead early in the fourth.

A jumper by Aokuso put the Zags ahead 74-70.

Whittaker made two free throws to make it 77-74 for Gonzaga with 8.3 seconds to go before Dallow’s clutch shot forced overtime.

Portland built a six-point advantage in the extra session and the Zags couldn’t overcome the deficit.

“There are a lot of things you can point to on a stat sheet and a lot of people contributed – No. 1 is me,” Fortier said. “I wish I would have gotten them into a little more focus defensively. That’s on me for not having us prepared in the right ways. … It’s not a feeling I enjoy.”

Whittaker posted her record 17th double-double with 30 points on 10 of 17 shooting from the field and 10 rebounds. Aokuso had 17 points, Turner had 15 points, five rebounds and three assists and Smith added 12 points and nine rebounds.

Aokuso, Whittaker and Turner combined for 16 turnovers.

The WCC Tournament begins Thursday at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Gonzaga doesn’t play until March 9.