Feb. 10, 2011

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - Junior Shannon Reader scored a career-high 10 points and senior Courtney Vandersloot registered her 12th double-double of the season, and fourth-straight, to propel the Gonzaga University women's basketball team to a 82-42 victory over visiting Loyola Marymount University Thursday evening.

"I was really proud of our defense tonight," explained head coach Kelly Graves. "That was the first thing I credited them on after the game tonight. The first 12 to 15 minutes of the game and a stretch in the second half, I thought was terrific. I think anytime you play LMU you better be ready to rebound and I thought we did a good job on the boards and on defense tonight."

The 40-point victory was the largest margin of victory in league action for the Bulldogs (21-4, 9-0 WCC) this season and the 42 point output by the Lions (10-14, 4-6 WCC) was the lowest point total by a conference opponent thus far.

Reader, who has been an important element for the Zags off the bench all year long, scored eight of her 10 points in the opening half, including four in a 16-0 run that broke open a 24-4 early lead for the Bulldogs.

Vandersloot was the opposite of Reader, scoring 15 of her game-high 21 points in the second stanza, including a 3-pointer and a jumper in Gonzaga's 23-2 outburst that spanned the final 8:13 of the contest. The point guard also dished out 12 assists, six in each half, to end the game having a hand in 46 of GU's 82 points.

With her 12 assists, Vandersloot now has 997 career assists, three shy of becoming just the fourth player in NCAA history to hit the 1,000-point plateau. The last player to crack 1,000 assists was Andrea Nagy of Florida International University (FIU). Nagy closed out her career in 1995 with 1,165.

Junior Kayla Standish was the final player in double-figures for Gonzaga, registering 20 points, her seventh 20-plus point outing.

The Bulldogs ended the game shooting 51.4 percent (17-of-36) from the field; the fourth time this conference season they have shot better than 50 percent. They outrebounded the Lions 46-29, including 16-9 on the offensive end, had 16 second chance points and scored 23 points off of LMU's 20 miscues.

Loyola Marymount was led by Renahy Young with 15 points. Camille Buckley won the battle of the boards, ending the contest with a game-high 10.

Gonzaga concludes its 3-game homestand Saturday when it welcomes Pepperdine University to the McCarthey Athletic Center for its Pink Zone contest. Game time is set for 2 p.m.