Gonzaga women hold off Washington State 81-75

PULLMAN – The Gonzaga women’s basketball team had to fend off Washington State and assorted challenges before escaping with an 81-75 West Coast Conference win Saturday before 1,470 at Beasley Coliseum.

By taking care of business, Gonzaga now can focus on redemption. The Zags will have four days to prepare to bounce back from their most recent loss – a 92-87 overtime setback at conference-leading Oregon State.

But the victory Saturday was anything but easy for Gonzaga, which withstood arguably one of WSU’s best games of the season.

GU’s two leading scorers, Lauren Whittaker and Allie Turner, were quiet in the first half. Whittaker had just five points on 2 of 7 shooting and Turner had to sit on the bench for 13 minutes and 38 seconds with two fouls.

But they combined for 27 points in the second half and were clutch when Gonzaga (16-7, 8-2) needed it most.

“We started well and then we had a little bit of a let up,” Gonzaga coach Lisa Fortier said. “Our team finally got the shots. It took until the very, very end - like the last two or three minutes that we were able to score.”

Turner completed a three-point play and added two free throws in the final 38 seconds as the Zags held off the Cougars (4-20, 3-8).

Gonzaga now sits in second place all alone after Pepperdine upset Santa Clara 74-72 earlier Saturday.

The Cougs’ final lead came at 66-64 when Charlotte Abraham hit a 3-pointer with 5:59 remaining.

At one point in the second half, Whittaker was 2 of 10 from the floor. But she made her final five shots, finishing with a team-high 18 points.

Gonzaga had tremendous balance as five players finished in double figures. Freshman guard Paige Lofing provided a huge lift off the bench with Turner in foul trouble in the first half. She scored a career-high 17 points, making her first four 3-point attempts.

Turner added 16 points and three assists, Ines Bettencourt had 10 points, five rebounds and five assists and Taylor Smith chipped in 10 points and three assists.

Eleonora Villa led the Cougars with a game-high 22 points on 10 of 13 shooting to go with three assists and three rebounds. Abraham had 16 points on 4 of 7 from 3-point range and four rebounds.

The Cougars played especially well in the first half – one of their better halves of the season.

Gonzaga twice had eight-point leads in the first quarter, but a 12-4 surge by the Cougars allowed them to close within 19-17 at the end of the period.

Ines Bettencourt and Taylor Smith picked up the offensive slack for GU in the first half, each scoring eight points.

Tanja Valacic gave WSU its first lead at 28-27 when she hit a 3-pointer with 5:02 to go before halftime.

Gonzaga evened things at 30-30, but a 7-0 spurt allowed the Cougars to take a 37-30 lead. Junior guard Eleonora Villa scored all seven points, one basket coming off a back-door move, the other from a 3-pointer and a driving basket with 2 minutes remaining.

WSU wouldn’t score again. Gonzaga used two putbacks by freshman forward Jaiden Haile to cut the Cougars’ lead to 37-35 going into halftime.

“Washington State had a great game,” Fortier said. “They were ready to go and they shot the ball … it was a shooting exhibition in the first half.”

WSU’s 6-foot-6 junior post Alex Covill was in street clothes and in a boot.

Fortier praised Lofing’s play off the bench.

“Paige had a great game,” Fortier said. “We really needed her. We’ve seen her show up for us in big moments.”

Said Lofing: “Just trusting my work and staying ready. You never know when an opportunity (is going to happen).”

Gonzaga returns home after a three-game road stretch to take on Oregon State (17-6, 9-1), which is atop the conference, on Thursday. The Beavers handled visiting San Francisco 75-53 on Saturday.