SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga women's basketball team shut down visiting Colorado State 50-39 Wednesday evening at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
 
"It's a grind," head women's basketball coach Lisa Fortier said. "They played 40 minutes of pack-it-in defense, and it gets at you a little…. It's just a grind. You only have so many options and so many different things that you can run offensively."
 
Gonzaga (7-1) was led by Zykera Rice with her second-straight double-double. Rice finished with a team-high 12 points off 5-of-9 from the floor to go along with a game-high tying 11 rebounds. It marks the third time this season Rice has corralled at least 10 boards in a single contest. Katie Campbell added nine points on 3-of-7 from long range while Laura Stockton added eight points, three boards, three assists and two steals.
 
The Bulldogs started on a 7-3 run before a 4-0 Colorado State (2-3) run tied the first period at 7-all. A trey from Jessie Loera at the 5:19 mark, her second of the period, sparked a 6-0 Zag run to give the Bulldogs a 13-7 advantage with 2:32 left in the period. The Bulldogs shot 40 percent in the period and forced three early turnovers to claim an 18-15 advantage heading into the second.
 
Gonzaga opened the second with a 13-2 run to take a 31-17 lead with 4:41 to go in half, but Colorado State responded with seven unanswered to cut the lead to seven (31-24) with 1:42 remaining. Stockton closed the scoring for the Bulldogs with a steal and a layup with 25 seconds remaining, and the Zags played solid defense on CSU's final possession to take a 33-24 lead at the half.
 
Gonzaga held Colorado State to 6.3 percent shooting in the third while outscoring the Rams 12-3 to take a 45-27 lead heading into the final period.
 
Cold shooting plagued the Zags in the final period, but the Bulldogs limited the Rams to 12 points in the final 10 minutes to earn the 50-39 victory.
 
"It was definitely a grind, and we were anticipating the big struggle in the second half," Campbell said. "But just to pull it out and win, at the end of the day, that's what counts."
 
Colorado State was led by Lore Devos with a game-high 17 points off 8-of-11 from the floor while Mollie Mounsey added a game-high tying 11 rebounds.
 
"Overall, we had to grind, and we were able to do it and come out ahead, so it's a very big positive and I'm happy," Fortier said.
 
The Bulldogs now turn their focus to Sunday as they welcome No. 8/7 Stanford to the McCarthey Athletic Center Dec. 2 at 2 p.m.