Feb. 18, 2010

Box Score

Highlights & Recap

SPOKANE, Wash. - The Gonzaga University women's basketball team rolled to a 73-40 victory over visiting Loyola Marymount University Thursday evening at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The Bulldogs have now won 13-straight with their victory and are 22-4 overall and 11-0 in West Coast Conference action. The Lions, who have lost 10 of the last 11 meetings to the Zags, fell to 11-14 overall and 4-7 in conference.

The 40 points scored by Loyola Marymount was the lowest scoring output by an opposing team this season. The Lions scored just 14 points in the opening 20 minutes, eight of which came in the final five minutes of the half.

"I am really really happy with the defense we played tonight," stated Graves after the 33 point victory. "If we defend like that, there is no limit to what we can do as a team."

Gonzaga held a slight 6-4 advantage at the 15:59 mark after Loyola Marymount's Renahy Young made a layup but the Lions would then be held scoreless for nearly nine minutes as the Zags rattled off 17 points of their own to claim a 23-4 advantage with a little less than seven minutes to play in the half. Gonzaga hit three 3-pointers during this span, one each by Tiffanie Shives, Courtney Vandersloot and Janelle Bekkering. LMU did not score again until 6:32 when Young again made a layup.

Loyola Marymount did score the final eight points of the half to slice Gonzaga's lead to 25-14. Young had five of the points, while Candice Nichols scored the other four.

The Bulldogs finished the half shooting an uncharacteristic 32.3 percent (10-of-31) from the field. The Lions hit just 25.0 percent (6-of-24) of their shots.

Gonzaga really turned things on in the second half. The Zags held the Lions to eight field goals, including just three over the final 13 minutes of the contest. After LMU's Young made a layup to cut the score to 38-25 at 12:37, it would not hit another field goal until Young once again drove the lane and scored a bucket at the 5:43 mark. Most of the Lions points came at the free throw line in the last 10 minutes as they sunk 9-of-13.

"We did a great job in the second half," explained Graves. "We scored 48 points and played extremely solid defense. We really got it going in the second half."

The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 20 points pretty quickly. Two free throws by Kayla Standish, followed by back-to-back 3-pointers by Shives and Vandersloot turned a 13 point edge into a 21 point lead at 48-27 with 9:17 left in the contest.

Gonzaga's largest advantage of the game was 33 points, hit twice. Katelan Redmon hit a jumper at the 1:13 mark to put the score at 71-38 and then Kelly Bowen made a layup with 20 ticks left on the clock to put the final score at 73-40.

Eight players scored for the Zags, including four in double figures. Vandersloot scored a game-high 17 points and added eight assists, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Sharpshooter Shives, who hit four 3-pointers, added 14 points, while Vivian Frieson tallied 12, along with nine boards and four assists, and Heather Bowman chipped in 10.

Gonzaga finished the game shooting a respectable 46.8 percent (29-of-62) from the field, after hitting a smoking 61.3 percent (19-of-31) in the second half. The Bulldogs outmanned the Lions on the boards, holding the 48-27 advantage.

Loyola Marymount was led by Young with 17 points. The Lions shot 26.4 percent (14-of-53) from the field.

The Bulldogs play their last home game of the season on Saturday when they welcome Pepperdine University to the McCarthey Athletic Center for Senior Day. Game time is set to start at 2 p.m.

"Saturday is just another game we are going to have to prepare for," explained Graves. "Pepperdine is the most athletic team in the conference. We are going to have to bring it. We played a lot of people tonight so we need to recover quickly in order to be ready for a very good Pepperdine team."