RV/RV Gonzaga (3-1) vs. No. 17/16 Iowa (5-1) Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014 | 3:30 p.m. (PT)South Point Arena (4,600) | Las Vegas, Nev. Radio: The Key 1050 AM
Live Stats | Gonzaga Notes | Iowa Notes ZAGS CLASH WITH RANKED IOWA
• Gonzaga is one of seven teams that will be competing in the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout.
• The Zags won their first meeting with a top-25 opponent this season, 75-65, over then-No. 22 Dayton.
• Saturday's tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time. There will be no live video stream, but live stats will be available on GoZags.com. Live radio will be on 1050 AM.
THE LAST TIME OUT
• American University rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Gonzaga, 59-56, Friday.
• The Zags were held to 2-of-12 shooting from behind-the-arc and 35 percent from the field.
• The Bulldogs jumped out to a 7-0 lead, led 25-19 at halftime, and had the lead for 28 minutes in the game.
• Shelby Cheslek matched her career-high with 14 rebounds and added 13 points for the double-double.
• Sunny Greinacher scored a game-high 18 points.
• Keani Albanez chipped in 15 points.
GONZAGA STORYLINES
• Gonzaga has appeared in 27 straight polls either receiving votes or in the top 25.
• The Zags have won 26 consecutive regular season games in the McCarthey Athletic Center, dating back to a 66-63 loss to Saint Mary's in 2012.
• Gonzaga returns to Las Vegas where it has won the last two West Coast Conference tournaments. The Zags have won five of the last six WCC tournaments. GU is 14-4 in Las Vegas all-time.
• The Bulldogs are playing Las Vegas during the regular season for the first time since it won a pair of games at the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Classic over Georgia and Dayton in 2011.
• Shelby Cheslek eclipsed 400 rebounds in her Gonzaga career during the game at Montana State.
• Sunny Greinacher is five points away from 900 points in her Gonzaga career.
• Lindsay Sherbert will be played in her 100th collegiate game Friday against American.
ABOUT THE HAWKEYES
• Sixteenth-ranked Iowa is off to a fast start to its season, winning five of its its first six games.
• The Hawkeyes were upset by Arkansas Friday in the second game of the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout, 77-67. It was their first game away from Iowa City.
• Entering the tournament, Iowa's 94.8 points per game was third best in the country currently. It's 22.8 assists per game was fourth, and it is 11th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Samantha Logic, a senior guard, was named preseason All-American, preseason All-Big Ten, and to the Wooden Award watch list. She is the NCAA's active career assists leader with 659.
• The Hawkeyes were selected third in the Big Ten preseason poll.
• Four Hawkeyes are averaging double-digits led by Ally Disterhoft's 16.7 points per game. Melissa Dixon, Bethany Doolittle, and Samantha Logic add 13.7, 10.7, and 11.0. Logic has 8.8 assists per game.
SERIES HISTORY• Saturday is the third all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Iowa.
• In the first meeting between the programs, the Hawkeyes opened their 2001-02 season with a 69-54 win over Gonzaga in the Great Alaska Shootout.
• The Zags won the last matchup in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament. GU, the 11-seed knocked off sixth-seeded Iowa, 92-86, in Spokane in front of 5,632 fans.
• Courtney Vandersloot scored 34 points and Kayla Standish added 30 for Gonzaga.
• The Bulldogs are 4-6 all-time versus opponents from the Big 10 Conference.
CHASING MILESTONES
• Sunny Greinacher
- Greinacher is currently sixth in program history with a .511 FG Pct.
- Needs 18 games to equal Stephanie Hawk's 122, which is 10th all-time at GU.
- Needs 126 points to become the 20th player to score 1,000 in a career at GU.
- Needs 162 rebounds to become the 15th player to grab 600 in a career at GU.
• Keani Albanez
- Albanez is currently 10th in program history with 311 three-point attempts.
- Needs 10 three-pointers to equal Taelor Karr's 115, which is 10th all-time at GU.
- Needs 21 games to equal Stephanie Hawk's 122, which is 10th all-time at GU.
- Needs 55 steals to equal Loretta O'Brien's 162, which is 10th all-time at GU.
• Shelby Cheslek
- Cheslek is currently 10th in program history with 100 blocks, one away from ninth.
ABOUT THE GONZAGA BULLDOGS:
• Gonzaga University women's basketball team ended their 2013-14 schedule with a loss to James Madison in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
• The Zags were seeded sixth, their highest seed ever in the NCAA Tournament.
• GU defeated BYU in the WCC Title game to win its second-straight WCC Tournament Championship and fifth in six years.
• The Bulldogs have reached 20 wins in eight straight seasons.
WHAT WE RETURNED:
• Gonzaga returns nine letterwinners, including three starters from last year's squad. It lost four players to graduation.
• Overall, the Zags returned 60.4 percent of its scoring from the 2013-14 season and 73.3 percent of its rebounding.
• Keani Albanez, Sunny Greinacher and Lindsey Sherbert all return after averaging more than 20 minutes a game last season.
• The Bulldogs welcome only one transfer, Georgia Stirton, from North Idaho College. There are also three incoming freshman from high school squads.
WHO ARE THE NEWCOMERS:
• Gonzaga has a total of six new faces to the 2014-15 team.
• Georgia Stirton transfers in from North Idaho College. The incoming junior was named the Region 18 Player of the Year and NJCAA second team All-American.
• There are three true freshmen on the roster. Jill Barta comes to Gonzaga following an undefeated high school career in Fairfield, Mont. Kacie Bosch was named the top female player in Alberta. Emma Stach was one of the top young players in Germany.
• Emma Wolfram will make her debut on the court after redshirting in 2013-14.
• Melissa Holland also joins the roster after being a team manager and practice player.
NEW FACES ON THE SIDELINES:
• The Zags begin the Lisa Fortier head coaching era this season.
• Fortier has been an assistant for GU the past seven seasons, and now enters her first year as a head coach.
• She took over for Kelly Graves, who is now at Oregon, in April.
• Fortier is joined by a completely new staff at Gonzaga.
• Jordan Green, Stacy Clinesmith and Craig Fortier are all first year assistants at GU.
• Former Gonzaga players, Amanda Brown and Heather Bowman, filled the Director of Operations and Video Coordinator positions.
GREINACHER TABBED PRESEASON ALL-WCC:
• The West Coast Conference announced its annual preseason All-Conference team and Sunny Greinacher was named to the select squad.
• The senior was named to the All-WCC postseason squad last year. The forward was named to the All-Freshman team in 2012 and earned All-WCC honorable mention in 2012-13.
• Over the 18 league games last season, Greinacher averaged 10.9 points and 4.8 rebounds, while shooting an impressive 48.7 percent (75-of-154) from the field and 75.4 percent (46-of-61) at the charity stripe.
BULLDOGS PICKED AS WCC PRESEASON FAVORITES:
• Gonzaga was selected as the preseason favorite to win the West Coast Conference title when the annual coaches' poll was released.
• The Zags received seven of the nine possible first-place votes for 78 points in the poll.
• BYU was picked second, received two first-place votes and 71 points. San Diego was selected third with one first-place vote and 65 points, just ahead of Pacific's 60 points.
FORTIER INKS TRIO ON SIGNING DAY:
• The first signing day of the Lisa Fortier era is in the books for Gonzaga University women's basketball, and it was a highly successful one.
• Zykera Rice, a 6-1 forward from Tacoma, Wash, is a three-sport athlete at Clover Park High School. Last season, she averaged 17 points and 13 rebounds per game.
• Laura Stockton, daughter of John and sister to David, will continue the family name for GU. At Gonzaga Prep in 2013-14, she averaged 13.1 points, 4.8 assists, and 2.8 steals per game.
• Zhane Templeton of Grand Prairie, Texas, was named Texas Girls Coaches Association First Team Class 5A All-State and first team All-District 7-5A.
IN THE MCCARTHEY ATHLETIC CENTER:
• Since the McCarthey Athletic Center opened in 2004, Gonzaga has gone 135-16 overall.
• The Bulldogs went undefeated at 14-0 in the McCarthey Athletic Center during the 2004-05 campaign, the first season it was open; went 15-0 during the 2009-10 season and finished last season with a perfect 16-0 record.
• Five of the 16 losses have been to Pacific-12 Conference members - Stanford (twice), Arizona State, USC and Washington State - and three to West Coast Conference schools.
WHERE THE ATTENDANCE RANKS:
• Gonzaga ranked 16th in the nation in attendance with a home average of 5,426 fans last season. Tennessee led the nation with an average of 11,600 fans per game.
• The Zags ended the 2012-13 season ranked a school-high 13th in home attendance averaging 5,678 fans for its 17 home games. The Bulldogs also had a school record seven sellouts last year.
• In 2011-12, the Bulldogs averaged 5,442 fans for their 17 home games which stood 14th in the NCAA for women's basketball attendance.
SEVENTH LONGEST CONFERENCE TITLE STREAK:
The Gonzaga University women's basketball team captured its unprecedented 10th-straight West Coast Conference regular-season title in 2013-14, finishing league with a 16-2 record. In the Bulldogs decade-long reign, they piled up an astonishing 136-12 record against conference foes. That includes three undefeated seasons. Their record is the seventh longest streak in the nation.
1) Wisconsin-Green Bay, Horizon League, 16 (1998-14)
2) Louisiana Tech, Sun Belt and WAC, 15 (1993-2007)
3) Stanford, Pac-12, 14 in a row (2002-14)
4) Chattanooga, Southern, 11 in a row (2000-10)
5) Stanford, Pac-12, 10 in a row (1989-1998)
6) Marist, Metro Atlantic, 11th a row (2005-14)
7) Gonzaga, West Coast, 10 in a row (2005-14)
8) Liberty, Big South, nine in a row (1998-2006)
9) Connecticut, Big East, nine in a row (1994-2002)
Only Gonzaga, Stanford, Marist and Wisconsin-Green Bay have active streaks.
