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SPOKANE, Wash. - Gonzaga women's basketball put together arguably its best performance of the season in a 78-62 win over Brigham Young to open West Coast Conference play Saturday.
The Zags (8-4, 1-0 West Coast Conference) opened their quest for an 11th consecutive WCC title in dominating fashion in front of a season-high 5,911 fans in the Kennel. GU never trailed in the game, and led for nearly 38 minutes. Its largest lead was 20 points late in the game. The Bulldogs forced 17 turnovers and made 12 steals. Conversely, Gonzaga matched a season-low with 12 turnovers.
"I'm proud of our team," Gonzaga Head Coach Lisa Fortier said. "We've been trying and trying to put together 40 minutes of good basketball, and today we had a lot of people contribute to put together a good 40 minutes. BYU pushed and we pushed back. We didn't just get on our heels. I think it was mostly because of our defense."
Keani Albanez finished with a career-high seven steals to lead the Bulldogs. The senior added a game-high 20 points, one point off of her career best. She was one of four players to finish with double-digit scoring for Gonzaga. Sunny Greinacher became the 20th player in GU history to score 1,000 points in a career. She totaled 16 Saturday and now has 1,014 in her four seasons with the Zags. Elle Tinkle added a career-high 15, and Georgia Stirton had 11, a best in her young Gonzaga career.
Greinacher grabbed a game-high eight rebounds. Stirton led all players with five assists, and Tinkle recorded three blocks.
Gonzaga entered the game eighth in the country, shooting 77.5 percent from the free-throw line. It made 16-of-18 (88.9 percent) Saturday. The Zags also made eight of their 19 three-point attempts, the second-best total of made three-pointers in a game this season. They shot 44 percent from the field in the game.
Brigham Young (8-4, 0-1 WCC) had its five-game win streak snapped. Morgan Bailey and Lexi Eaton both scored 13. The Cougars became only the third team to outrebound Gonzaga this season, having a 36-35 advantage. BYU shot 40 percent from the field, 5-of-12 from three-point range, and 9-for-13 from the free-throw line.
Gonzaga welcomes San Diego (9-1, 0-0) Monday. The Toreros have won five straight. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Pacific Time. The game will be broadcast on TheW.tv. Live radio will be available on The Key 1050 AM.
