WBB Pulls Away from Portland State
12/8/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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SPOKANE, Wash. - Elle Tinkle's big week continued for Gonzaga University women's basketball Sunday. The junior recorded a double-double in an easy victory over Portland State, 73-41.
After hitting a buzzer-beater winning shot at Eastern Washington Wednesday, Tinkle grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds and scored 10 points against PSU. Her previous career-high was seven rebounds; she had 11 at halftime Sunday.
The Zags (5-2) missed their first 15 shots from the field through the first nine minutes of the game. The teams combined for a 1-for-25 start, and the score was 6-2 midway through the opening half in favor of GU.
Gonzaga then scored 25 of the final 35 points in the first half. The Bulldogs made four straight three-pointers during a two-minute span before halftime to pull away from PSU. The Zags had a 32-12 lead at halftime. GU shot 41 percent from the field in the second half.
"We wanted to come out big in the second have and not give them any hope," Gonzaga Head Coach Lisa Fortier said. "We were up big in the first half, but we did not think we played well. We wanted to come out in the second half and have no let downs, just play for 20 minutes the best that we could play. Besides a few minutes stretch there, I thought we did a pretty good job."
Emma Wolfram had a game-high 14 points and three blocks for the Bulldogs. Emma Stach and Sunny Greinacher both added 11 points. Shelby Cheslek had 11 rebounds. Keani Albanez finished with six steals.
The Bulldogs made 21 of their 24 free throws, and Portland State was 10-for-12. GU finished the game 33 percent from the field, while the Vikings were 30 percent. Gonzaga grabbed a team season-high 52 rebounds, and PSU had 33. The Bulldogs had 23 offensive rebounds, which turned into 16 points. They also turned 20 Portland State turnovers into 20 points.
"This is exactly what we needed, after having those close games, and then in Vegas having to always play catch up," Tinkle said. "Even though our shots were not falling early on we had a turnaround second half, and that is really what we needed."
Mikaela Rivard and Lauren Holt both scored 10 points to lead Portland State (1-6).
Gonzaga welcomes Washington State (6-2) Tuesday. Tip is scheduled for 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on SWX and have live video and stats on GoZags.com.
