Feb. 12, 2005

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - Four years ago Gonzaga University won just two West Coast Conference games. On Saturday afternoon seniors Ashley Burke, Raeanne Jewell, Delphine Lecoultre and Shannon Mathews helped the program come full circle as the Bulldogs (22-2, 11-0 WCC) knocked off Loyola Marymount University, 70-48, to win Gonzaga's first WCC regular-season title since the 1987-88 season.

A record crowd of 3,035 watched Burke and Mathews play vital roles in the Bulldogs 18th straight victory as both seniors collected double-doubles in the win. Mathews scored a game-high 17 points to go along with 12 assists while Burke added 14 points and 11 rebounds. The 12 assists moved Mathews into fifth place on the WCC career assists list passing former San Francisco guard Jamie Shadian.

Jewell contributed 3 points and 6 rebounds while Lecoultre finished with 6 points and 2 blocks for the seniors.

"I feel great for our seniors," added GU head coach Kelly Graves following the win. "They were here when we started building this program and now we have accomplished one of our goals for the season. We will enjoy this victory for the weekend and then get back to work on Monday morning."

One area the Bulldogs will not need to work on will be the defensive end as Gonzaga held the defending champion Lions (13-11, 6-4 WCC) to just 34 percent shooting for the game while holding a 41-29 rebound margin. Gonzaga also did a great job on LMU guard Rachael Ziemann, holding the Lions guard to just 11 points after she scored 29 on Thursday night against Portland.

Gonzaga jumped out early with the Bulldogs building a 15-7 lead on a pair of free throws by Stephanie Hawk at 13:51. GU would hold the advantage around eight points the remainder of the first-half before Burke hit a jumper with 3-seconds remaining to lift the Bulldogs to a 36-24 halftime lead.

The second half would produce more of the same on the offensive end as Mathews scored five quick points and passed out another assist to stake Gonzaga to a 19 point lead with 14:41 remaining. Gonzaga slowly pushed the lead out as many as 26 points when Hawk hit another jumper with 2:38 left in the game. Hawk finished with 12 points while Anne Bailey added 14 to round out the Bulldogs double-digit scorers.

Mary Turner finished with 11 points joining Rachael Ziemann as the Lions top scorers.

Gonzaga returns to action next week with their final regular-season road games at the University of San Francisco on Thursday night and the University of San Diego on Saturday afternoon. Gonzaga continues to hold the nation's longest active win streak at 18 games while they have also tied the school record for consecutive wins. The previous record was set during the 1984-85 season when GU won 18 straight before falling to Portland in the NAIA District Tournament.