Katie Campbell scored 11 points and freshman guard Kayleigh Truong added 10 as No. 17 Gonzaga used a late surge to pull away from BYU 55-43 Thursday at the Marriott Center.

The Gonzaga women won 29 games last year and lost only five, but three of those defeats came at the hands of West Coast Conference rival BYU.

But the same questions remain. Can anybody catch No. 1 Gonzaga? Can anybody break up the Big Three of GU, Saint Mary’s and BYU?

For Gonzaga head coach Lisa Fortier, the best takeaway from Sunday’s narrow escape against Portland came in the film room.

BYU is to women’s soccer what Gonzaga is to men’s basketball.

The script is dog-eared, tattered and coffee-stained from two decades of re-use, as if plucked from the read-through table on the set of “Law & Order” or “Home Improvement.”

Gonzaga will make at least 15 appearances on ESPN networks this season, including both dates with rival Saint Mary’s among eight WCC matchups, the conference announced.

Jacob Eason threw for 290 yards and three touchdowns and No. 22 Washington scored two touchdowns off three BYU turnovers to coast to a 45-19 victory on Saturday.

The Huskies are trying their best to rattle Jacob Eason with a cacophony of confusion. It’s a purposeful plan to prepare their junior quarterback for No. 22 Washington’s road opener and what he’ll face Saturday afternoon at Brigham Young.

The NCAA has upheld sanctions against BYU’s basketball program, which was forced to vacate 47 wins as a result of an improper-benefits case involving former player Nick Emery. BYU’s appeal of penalties announced in November was denied by the NCAA’s Infractions Appeals Committee on Wednesday. The NCAA said a player, later revealed by BYU to be Emery, received more than $12,000 in benefits from four boosters.

Gonzaga on Tuesday learned its WCC schedule for the 2020 season and most of its toughest contests figure to fall over the final three weeks.

BYU guard Nick Emery says he is retiring from basketball following a college career that began with high expectations but that ended with him at the center of an NCAA investigation.

Joe Vranesh’s three-run homer to left-center in the seventh inning Friday snapped a 1-all tie, and Saint Mary’s held off Gonzaga 4-3 in a West Coast Conference Championship loser-out game at Banner Island Ballpark.

Dave Rose is stepping down as BYU’s head basketball coach after 14 seasons during which he led the Cougars to eight NCAA Tournament appearances.

On Monday the Zags lost guards Laura Stockton and Jill Townsend to injury. A day later, they also lost the West Coast Conference

Key moment, offensive MVP and defensive MVP from BYU’s 82-68 victory over Gonzaga in the championship game of the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.

For the Gonzaga Bulldogs’s women’s basketball team, there is family and there is FAMILY, and now they know both the distinction and how it gets blurred together when life issues impose their way into the world of games.

The Zags left Orleans Arena feeling as though they’d done their part in three of those quarters, but playing well 75 percent of the time didn’t suffice against a Cougars team that relied on a monster second quarter to win 82-68 and snatch the WCC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Athletic director Mike Roth pulled the coaches out of a timeout to inform them of the situation. Craig returned to the bench a few minutes later, but Roth said a car was waiting outside the Orleans Arena to take Lisa to a nearby hospital to be with a family member.