Feb. 24, 2011

Box Score

SPOKANE, Wash. - The Gonzaga University women's basketball team reached triple-digits for the seventh time this season and for the second-consecutive game as it defeated Saint Mary's College 106-66 at the McCarthey Athletic Center Thursday. The Bulldogs improved to 25-4 overall with the victory and 13-0 in West Coast Conference play, while the Gaels, in second place in the league standings, dropped to 17-11 overall and 9-4 in conference.

Four of the five Bulldogs starters closed out the game in double-digits and were led by senior Janelle Bekkering and classmate Courtney Vandersloot. Bekkering scored 22 points, hitting 10-of-15 from the field, for her third 20-plus point outing of the year. Vandersloot registered her 15th double-double on the season and her seventh in the last eight games matching Bekkering with 22 points, and added 13 assists. She also had six steals and seven rebounds for GU.

The Bulldogs finished the game hitting 55.0 percent (44-of-80) from the field, including 33.3 percent (4-of-12) on 3-pointers and sank 73.7 percent (14-of-19) at the charity stripe. They ended the game scoring 62 points in the paint, just four less than the Gaels had for the game, and had 37 points off of SMC's 28 turnovers.

Gonzaga did not start to pull away until nearly midway through the first half. Saint Mary's Jasmine Smith, who led all scorers with 24 points, hit a 3-pointer to cut GU's lead to five, 24-19, at the 11:30 mark but Gonzaga, as it has all season, rattled off a run, this time a 20-8 spurt over the next six minutes to capture the 17-point advantage at 44-27 with 4:37 remaining in the half. Bekkering had 10 points in the run, including six on back-to-back 3-pointers.

The Bulldogs went into halftime with the 50-33 lead after junior Katelan Redmon converted on an old-fashion 3-point play to close out the scoring.

The Zags opened the second half on a 14-2 run to grab a 29-point lead and gained the 30-point edge on a layup by Bekkering at 10:49 to put the score at 81-49 with 10:15 to play in the game.

Gonzaga hit the 100-point plateau on a layup by freshman Stephanie Golden at 2:54. The Bulldogs closed out their scoring on a 3-pointer by senior fan favorite Carter Schick when she drained a 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to give them their largest lead of the game.

Junior Kayla Standish had the team's second double-double of the game, scoring 19 points and grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.

Gonzaga defeated Saint Mary's 106-77 in its first meeting of the season on Jan. 27 in Moraga, Calif.

The Bulldogs close out the West Coast Conference regular season with Senior Day on Saturday. Gonzaga, who will honor five seniors before the game, will host the University of San Diego at 2 p.m.

"It's going to be an emotional day," stated head coach Kelly Graves. "We have five really great seniors that are really popular."

"I hope everybody's here. I hope it's a sellout on Saturday. This could be the last time they have a chance to see a great senior class and in particular an amazing point guard (Courtney Vandersloot). I would pay to see that young woman play basketball."