Box Score LAS VEGAS – The Gonzaga women's basketball team fought for a 70-59 win over UNLV Saturday afternoon at Cox Pavilion.
Gonzaga (4-0) had four players in double figures led by
Zykera Rice,
Jessie Loera and
Jill Townsend with 11 points each while
Katie Campbell added 10.
Melody Kempton was a workhorse for the Zags inside, finishing with a season-high eight boards, seven of them offensive, to go along with a season-high eight points.
Laura Stockton led the Zags with a game- and season-high seven assists go along with six points and three steals.
"As a coach, I didn't want our players thinking too much about revenge," head coach
Lisa Fortier said. "You don't want them to be too hyped up. We just wanted to focus on getting better and being tougher. Instead of focusing on the fact that we didn't beat these guys last year, we wanted to focus on the reasons. And that was rebounding…so that was a big emphasis for us today. We only beat them by one [on the glass], but we got them."
Gonzaga fought for the 37-36 edge on the glass. The Bulldogs shot 43.3 percent from the floor compared to UNLV's (0-3) 34.0 shooting and forced 16 turnovers.
Gonzaga took the early 7-2 lead behind four points from
LeeAnne Wirth, but a 5-0 Rebel run tied the game 7-all with 5:10 remaining in the quarter. The Bulldogs would twice extend their lead to four point in the final five minutes of the quarter, but a UNLV offensive rebound put-back with 18 seconds remaining cut the lead to two (16-14) heading into the second quarter.
The back-and-forth play continued into the second period with six lead changes and three ties. The Zags twice gained a three-point advantage in the quarter, the second off a huge trey from
Katie Campbell that sparked an 8-0 Bulldog run. Gonzaga closed the quarter on an inbounds alley-oop to Rice to head into halftime with a 34-27 advantage.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to nine (42-33) following a jumper from Stockton at the 5:30 mark of the third quarter, but the Rebels outscored Gonzaga 13-9 to close the quarter to cut the Zags' lead to six (53-46) heading into the final period.
Gonzaga shot 40 percent in the final 10 minutes and outscored the Rebels 17-13 to seal the 70-59 victory.
The Bulldogs continue play on the road as they head to Vancouver, Canada to face No. 1 Notre Dame in the first game of the Vancouver Showcase Thanksgiving Day at 12 p.m.
