SPOKANE, Wash. - A balanced offense, in which 12 Gonzaga University women's basketball players scored, helped the Bulldogs earn the 77-56 victory over the University of Portland Thursday evening at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The 21-point win secured the Zags their sixth-straight 20-win season as they are now 20-3 on the year.

"I was really pleased," explained head coach Kelly Graves of the Bulldogs win. "We played a lot of players a lot of minutes tonight. A lot of people came in and contributed. I thought the effort was good."

Senior Kayla Standish led the Zags (9-1 WCC) with 18 points, hitting 7-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-8 at the charity stripe. Standish also had nine rebounds, three blocks, two assists and one steal. Redshirt freshman Haiden Palmer was the only other player to crack double-figures, scoring 10.

"Kayla had a nice night," stated Graves of his 6-3 forward. "It's kind of been a typical night for her lately, 18 points and nine rebounds. She did it in 26 minutes so she's going to be well-rested for the weekend, which I anticipate is going to be a tough one."

It wasn't until the final three minutes of the second half that Gonzaga started pulling away from Portland (8-16, 1-9 WCC).

Leading by just four at 28-24 with 3:17 left in the half, the Bulldogs rattled off a 10-0 run to put their halftime lead at 38-24. Redshirt freshman Danielle Walter began the run hitting one-of-two free throws and followed that up by draining a 3-pointer on the Zags next possession. Gonzaga allowed Portland to get up three shots in the final three minutes and forced two turnovers.

Standish closed out the Zags first half scoring with an offensive board and put back. She tallied 12 points in the opening 20 minutes.

Ten minutes into the second half Gonzaga's lead had climbed to 20 points at 57-37. It was sophomore Jazmine Redmon who pushed the advantage to 20 with a jumper at 10:07.

That jumper by Redmon turned out to be in the midst of a 13-0 run that put the Bulldogs up 27 at the 7:04 mark. A 3-pointer by just-inserted freshman Maiki Viela was another highlight in the spurt; which ended on a layup by sophomore Stephanie Golden.

Gonzaga again hit a 27-point lead with 2:57 remaining after junior Meghan Winters drained her second 3-pointer of the contest to put the score at 75-48.

The Bulldogs closed out the game hitting 29-of-68 from the field (42.6 percent) and was credited with 21 assists on those 29 buckets. Junior Taelor Karr led the way with eight assists and one had one turnover in 21 minutes of action.

GU outrebounded UP 53-33, including 24-13 on the offensive end, and scored 20 second chance points.

The Pilots were led by Cassandra Brown with a game-high 22 points; 17 scored in the second half.

Gonzaga hosts the University of San Diego Saturday at 2 p.m. The Toreros enter into the contest with the Bulldogs with a 7-2 West Coast Conference mark.

"They are tough," explained Graves of the third place team in the conference. "I read just the other day they are ninth in the nation in scoring defense and we only put up 54 points on them the first time around. They make you play; they're physical, tough, and they scramble around. It's going to be a tough game."