Gonzaga women keep focus on turnovers after drawing Santa Clara in WCC Tournament
LAS VEGAS – The West Coast Conference Tournament field should probably be wary of Gonzaga.
The second-seeded Zags (22-9) are coming off a loss going into the tournament. Gonzaga has played well coming off three previous conference losses this season.
Gonzaga had a chance to share the WCC regular-season championship but stumbled in a 92-91 loss in overtime at Portland in a regular-season finale last week.
A couple of season-long deficiencies were part of Gonzaga’s downfall against Portland. The Zags tied a season-high for turnovers (26), which led to 35 points for the Pilots. Just as glaring were missed assignments defensively.
Coach Lisa Fortier wasn’t open to talking much about that game during media availability this week. That’s sort of her schtick – letting past games stay in the past and focusing on the task at hand.
Her players know what they must fix.
“For the whole season turnovers has probably been something that our team needs to focus on, and we were really exploited in that game,” Gonzaga redshirt freshman forward Lauren Whittaker said. “Just resetting, especially after every loss we’ve had (where) turnovers have let us down and just not staying connected.”
Here’s a drop-dead guarantee: If Gonzaga limits its turnovers it will be difficult to beat.
Whittaker pulled off a double-double of sorts this week when she was named the WCC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. She was by far and away the best player in the conference.
She will be in the middle of Gonzaga’s attack Monday when the Zags meet No. 3-seeded Santa Clara (24-8) in the semifinals at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Tipoff is at 2:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Santa Clara handled San Francisco 87-69 in the quarterfinals Sunday.
The showdown with Santa Clara is interesting. First, opponents usually play with a chip on their shoulder and salivate at an opportunity to knock off Gonzaga. But in this case, if either team should have an edge it might be the Bulldogs.
The teams played just once during the regular-season under the unbalanced schedule. Santa Clara beat the visiting Zags 77-73. The Zags committed 20 turnovers and the Broncos turned those into 17 points.
Santa Clara got out in transition often, not allowing Gonzaga time to set up its defense.
So Gonzaga will make some adjustments. The most obvious should be limiting mistakes.
Gonzaga’s lone playing senior, starting guard Ines Bettencourt, is looking forward to bouncing back from the loss to Portland. She spent much of the game on the bench dealing with foul trouble. Her lack of presence hurt the Zags in terms of execution (see turnovers) and defense.
“Like I’ve told the team, it (the loss to Portland) is not the end of the world,” Bettencourt said. “These next two games are the ones that matter for the rest of our season and we’ve just gotta attack this week to accomplish that.”
Two-year starting guard Allie Turner, who was named for a second year to the All-WCC First Team, knows her team can return to the level of play that saw them commit the fewest turnovers in the late part of the season.
“We weren’t all on the same page that game,” Turner said of the loss to Portland. “We got really sped up, which Portland does, and we let it get to us. And once we start turning it over it’s hard to stop.”
Turner expects supreme effort in Las Vegas.
“We play together when we’re playing well,” Turner said. “We’re sharing the basketball … we’re all talking to each other and in Portland we weren’t doing that.”
If the Zags are smiling, that will be a good sign on the Orleans Arena court.