SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga women's basketball team cruised to an 86-43 exhibition win over visiting Carroll College Friday evening in front of 5,370 strong at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
The Zags were 55.7 percent from the floor, including 46.7 percent from beyond-the-arc, while limiting the Saints to 30.2 percent shooting. The Bulldogs also won the rebounding battle with a 38-29 edge on the glass.
"I loved our pace," head women's basketball coach
Lisa Fortier said. "I thought we had a lot of people contribute, so that was good…I just liked the contribution all around. Whether they scored a bunch of points or didn't, I don't think [there was] anyone who came in that didn't give us something good."
Five Zags finished in double-figures paced by 23 points from
Chandler Smith. The senior was 9-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-5 from long range. She also added seven rebounds in the win.
Melody Kempton narrowly missed a double-double in her Bulldog debut as she finished with 10 points and a game-high nine boards.
Katie Campbell scored 13 points,
Jill Townsend had 12 and
Zykera Rice chipped in 11.
Laura Stockton dished out a game-high six assists to go along with two seals for the Zags. Gonzaga finished with 14 assists and forced Carroll College into 21 turnovers.
"It was really fun," Campbell said. "We improved in a lot of areas we saw from our scrimmage, and we all played together really well. We were able to really show our strengths in this exhibition game."
Gonzaga claimed a 10-5 advantage through the first five minutes of the game and extended its lead to 15 (24-9) by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, GU finished 11-for-16 from the floor to shoot a deadly 68.8 percent while limiting the Saints 21.4 percent shooting. Nearly half of the Zags second-quarter points came in the paint as they edged the Saints 12-2. By the end of the first half, Gonzaga had extended its lead to 29, 50-21.
The Bulldogs cruised in the second and gained their largest lead of the half at 86-42 with 42 seconds to play.
Hannah Dean paced Carroll College with 11 points while Brittney Johnson chipped in eight.
The Zags open their regular season schedule at home against Montana on Nov. 7 at 6 p.m.
