Dec. 11, 2010

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - Junior classmates Katelan Redmon and Kayla Standish combined for 48 points to lead the Gonzaga University women's basketball team to a 93-75 victory over visiting Washington State University Saturday afternoon at the McCarthey Athletic Center. Redmon scored a game-high 26 points, while Standish added 22 to help the Bulldogs improve their record to 7-3 overall. The Cougars, losing their second game to the Zags in two weeks, fell to 2-8 on the year.

Standish, who hit 10-of-14 from the field and sank two free throws for her season-high in points, also had seven boards, four blocks, two steals and two assists to be named the Player of the Game. Redmon hit 12-of-24 from the floor, had six boards, six assists, one block and one steal for another all-around strong performance.

"Kayla was outstanding," stated Graves. "Unfortunately she fouled out but I thought she was great today. She did a good job on Carly Noyes. Noyes is a good player and I thought Kayla won that battle hands down and that's big for us. If we get an interior presence like that, we're going to be pretty tough to beat because Katelan Redmon is such a playmaker on the perimeter and obviously we have the best point guard, I think, in the country."

It was a closer game than Gonzaga would have liked in the early going of the contest. Washington State actually jumped out to a 14-11 lead at 15:15 and held the three point edge, 18-15, at the 13:53 mark.

The Bulldogs, who live off quick spurts, put together an 11-0 run though to take the lead at 26-18 with a little over nine minutes to play in the half. Redmon began and ended the run with jumpers. Standish had one of the best plays in spurt, grabbing a defense board, and with senior point guard Courtney Vandersloot covered, she dribbled the ball up the court and proceeded to hit a 12-footer when no one picked her up.

The Cougars cut the lead to five, 36-31, at 3:28 but the Bulldogs closed out the half on a 10-3 run to go into the locker room up 46-34. Redmon and Standish combined for eight of the Zags final 10 points.

Gonzaga pushed its lead to 15 early in the second half, but Washington State would not go away as it stunned the Bulldogs with its own 11-0 run to get within four of the lead at 56-52 with 14:54 remaining in the contest.

"We were a little loose with the basketball in the early moments of the second," explained Graves. "I remember talking to the team in one of those early timeouts in the second half. We had a chance to really separate ourselves early and we just really didn't do a very good job on either end."

The Zags had two turnovers during the Cougars run and put up just three shots.

Two free throws by Standish stopped WSU's run and put some life back into the Bulldogs. Redmon followed with a layup and before you knew it Gonzaga was back up by 10, 68-58 with 10:43 remaining.

Gonzaga continued to increase its lead and gained its largest advantage of the contest, which was 19 points at 84-65, on a jumper by senior Janelle Bekkering.

The Bulldogs closed out the game shooting an impressive 52.7 percent (39-of-74) from the field; their fifth 50 percent or better shooting night of the season. GU also sank seven 3-pointers and was 8-of-10 from the charity stripe.

Gonzaga was sloppy with the ball, turning it over 16 times, with Washington State capitalizing, scoring 28 points off the Zags miscues.

WSU held the one-rebound advantage on GU at 40-39.

Vandersloot registered her fifth double-double of the season, scoring 13 points and dishing out a season-high 14 assists for Gonzaga.

The Cougars were led by Noyes and Ireti Amojo, who both scored 12 points apiece.

Gonzaga returns to action Friday, Dec. 17 when it welcomes the University of Idaho to the McCarthey Athletic Center. Game time is set for 6 p.m.