Jan. 29, 2011

Box Score

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - It wasn't as high scoring as the Gonzaga University women's basketball team had been used to as of late, but the Bulldogs still pulled out a victory Saturday, defeating the University of San Diego 70-49 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in West Coast Conference action.

The Zags closed out the first half of league play at 7-0 and are now 19-4 overall. The Toreros fell to 11-9 on the year with the 21-point setback and are 1-6 in the WCC.

Juniors Kayla Standish and Katelan Redmon both scored 10 points in the first half to help Gonzaga to its 10-point advantage at half. Standish sank 4-of-8 from the field and both free throw attempts. The forward only played 15 minutes in the opening half due to a bloodied split lip that sent her to the sidelines to get attended to. Redmon made 5 of her seven shot attempts to break into double-digits, and also had two steals and one assist.

Standish was crucial in giving Gonzaga some breathing room in the opening parts of the first 10 minutes, scoring eight of the Zags 12 points in a 12-2 spurt that broke open a 10-point lead at 27-17 with 6:23 remaining before halftime.

The Toreros would get within six points of the Bulldogs lead at 31-25 after back-to-back buckets by Nya Mason, but Gonzaga put together a 6-2 spurt to close out the half and take the 37-27 advantage. Gonzaga's final bucket of the half came on the defensive work of Redmon, who stole the ball on the top of the key and snuck a pretty pass to senior Courtney Vandersloot who was streaking down the court for an easy layup.

Vandersloot, who was a bit off offensively in the first half, hitting just 3-of-10 from the field for six points, did hand out eight assists and made two steals to more than make up for it.

As a team, Gonzaga shot 45.9 percent (17-of-37) from the field and was a perfect 3-of-3 at the charity stripe.

The first 10 minutes of the second half was pretty shaky for Gonzaga as it scored just four points in the first eight minutes. San Diego capitalized on the Zags disarray, cutting GU's advantage to two at 39-37 with 13:12 remaining.

San Diego continued to pester Gonzaga and was just five points away from tying the contest after a 3-pointer by Torero Emily Hatch put the score at 51-46 at the 7:17 mark. The Bulldogs finally started to click on both offense and defense though, holding the Toreros to three points over the final seven minutes and notching 19 points themselves, to, in a blink-of-an-eye, take the 21-point win.

Redmon and senior Janelle Bekkering were crucial down the stretch for GU. Redmon scored six of the 19 points and Bekkering had five, which included a dagger of a 3-pointer and the final bucket of the contest, as she grabbed the offense rebound and scored on the put back.

Redmon closed out the game with the high in points at 20. Vandersloot chipped in her second-straight double-double, and tenth of the year, with 12 points and a season-tying high 14 assists. She also had five steals and four rebounds.

Gonzaga, who came into the game as having the third highest shooting percentage in the country, finished the game hitting 47.8 percent (32-of-67) from the floor and was a perfect 5-of-5 at the free throw line.

The Toreros were led by Dominique Conners and Emily Hatch with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

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