Gonzaga University
4-016-4; WCC
Pepperdine
2-29-9; WCC
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| PEPPERDINE WAVES | 14 | 29 | 43 |
| GONZAGA BULLDOGS | 25 | 41 | 66 |
Women's Basketball Wins WCC Home Opener
1/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2009
SPOKANE, Wash. - The Gonzaga University women's basketball squad, playing in its first West Coast Conference home game of the season, easily defeated Pepperdine University 66-43 Thursday night at the McCarthey Athletic Center in front of 1,984 Bulldog faithful.
"It was nice to come back [after playing first three WCC games on the road] and get a win in front of the home crowd," stated head coach Kelly Graves.
Win the victory, the Zags improved their overall record to 16-4 and are now 4-0 in conference. The Waves fell to 9-9 overall and 2-2 in WCC play.
"I have to give credit to Pepperdine," said Graves after the contest. "They came out and played hard. They played some great defense against us."
Junior Heather Bowman scored in double-figure points for the 14th-straight game, finishing with a game-high 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 accuracy at the charity stripe. Freshman Kelly Bowen also scored in double-digits, adding 13 on 6-for-9 shooting from the floor, including 1-for-2 from behind the three-point arc.
As a team Gonzaga was sizzling from the floor, hitting 56.9 percent (29-of-51) of its shots, including a blazing 64.3 percent (18-of-28) in the second half. The Zags, did however, struggle from the free throw line, making just 7-of-16 (16.7 percent). Coming into the contest, GU had hit 91.3 percent of its free throws in conference play.
The Waves themselves hit just 27.6 percent from the floor (16-of-58), including 29.4 percent (5-of-17) on three-pointers. Gonzaga allowed Pepperdine to reach the free throw line only 10 times in which it made six.
Gonzaga held Pepperdine's Miranda Ayim, averaging a team-best 11.5 points per game, to just five points on 2-for-8 shooting. Ayim's first points of the contest came at the 18:48 mark of the second half when she hit a jumper.
Pepperdine was led Jessica Ross and Lauren Bell who both scored 11 points. It was a slow moving and sloppy first half. Gonzaga, who held the 25-14 advantage at halftime, turned the ball over 15 times in the opening half. Luckily for the Bulldogs, the Waves were also out of sorts, giving the ball up 14 times.
The Zags finally broke away from the Waves over the final 4:20 of the half, using an 8-2 outburst to turn a five point lead into their 11-point halftime advantage.
Gonzaga played the final 10 minutes of the first half without sophomore point guard Courtney Vandersloot, who was hit with two early fouls. Sophomore Tatriana Lorenzo, along with junior Vivian Frieson, tag teamed being the floor leader.
"Tatri played some good minutes for us with Courtney out with fouls in the first half. I was very pleased with her composure and play tonight," explained Graves.
Gonzaga truly put the game out of reach in the opening minutes of the second half. The Bulldogs quickly put together a 13-4 run to push their advantage to 20 at 38-18 with 15:13 left in the contest.
The Bulldogs, who scored 20 fast break points in the win, claimed a 27-point lead after two impressive fast break plays. Vandersloot started the GU frenzy after grabbing a defensive rebound and hitting freshman Kayla Standish, who was running down the left side of the court. Standish quickly found sophomore Claire Raap cutting to the basket for the easy layup.
Raap again was on the scoring end of the Zags next quick moving play. Standish grabbed the defensive rebound this time, made the long outlet pass to Bowman, who, going two-on-one with a Wave defender passed it off to Rapp for another easy layup; which put the score at 57-30.
Gonzaga largest lead of the game was 29 at 65-36. Junior Vivian Frieson scored the layup, off an assist by Rapp.
The Bulldogs return to action this Saturday, Jan. 24 when they welcome Loyola Marymount University for a 2 p.m. tip. LMU, 64-53 winners over the University of Portland Thursday, come into the contest with a 13-5 overall record and a 3-1 mark in conference.
"LMU is good basketball team," stated Graves as he looked forward to Saturday. "They lead the WCC in scoring; they are quick and play well in the lane. It should be a pretty good test for us."
