Jan. 29, 2009

Box Score

MORAGA, Calif. - All five Gonzaga University women's basketball starters scored in double-figure points as the Bulldogs easily defeated Saint Mary's College 91-63 Thursday night at the McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, Calif. The Zags, whose win over the Gaels was their largest margin of victory in WCC action this season, improved their record to 18-4 overall and are now a perfect 6-0 in the WCC, while SMC dropped to 7-14 overall, 3-3 in conference.

Sophomore point guard Courtney Vandersloot led Gonzaga with 19 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field, including 1-for-1 on three-pointers and a perfect 6-of-6 at the charity stripe. Vandersloot also dished out eight assists in the game, had four rebounds and one steal.

Sophomore Janelle Bekkering, junior Heather Bowman and freshman Kelly Bowen all added 17 points for Gonzaga and junior Vivian Frieson notched 10. Bowen also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double. Her 17 points tied her career-high.

With her 17 points, Bowman became the 5th leading scorer in Gonzaga school history at 1,437 points. She moved ahead of former Zag and current Santa Clara University head coach Jennifer Mountain who finished her four-year career with 1,422 points.

The Bulldogs closed out the contest shooting a blistering 52.2 percent (36-of-69) from the field, while the Gaels hit only 35.8 percent (24-of-67). Gonzaga also out rebounded Saint Mary's 49-33 and held the 10-6 edge in steals.

Gonzaga held SMC's Louella Tomlinson, who was averaging a team-best 14.9 points and a nation's best 5.9 blocks per game, to just nine points and no blocks in the contest.

Maija Lahde and Alyssa Levesque led the way for the Gaels with 19 and 18 points, respectively.

Gonzaga held the 23 point advantage at half 55-32 by shooting an impressive 63.9 percent from the floor (23-36) and dishing out 12 of its 19 assists in the opening half.

Up just six at 19-13 at the 14:39 mark, the Bulldogs put together a 19-4 run to put the game out of the Gaels reach early at 38-17. Bowman scored six during this run while sophomore Claire Raap closed out the outburst with a jumper at the 9:11 mark.

Gonzaga largest lead of the game was 32 after Bowen drained a three-pointer with 4:02 left in the contest to put the Zags up 86-54.

The Zags round out the first half of WCC play with a contest at the University of San Diego on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs are looking to avenge their 70-66 loss to the Toreros in the West Coast Conference Tournament a season ago.