SPOKANE, Wash. – No. 17/18 Gonzaga women's basketball outscored Saint Mary's 9-2 in the final two and a half minutes to pull away with a 74-62 win Thursday evening at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
 
Gonzaga (14-1, 3-0) shot 47.5 percent from the floor and finished with 40 points in the paint while limiting Saint Mary's (7-6, 0-2 WCC), the WCC's best three-point shooting team to just five treys shooting 23.8 percent from long range.
 
The Zags were led by Chandler Smith with 17 points off 7-of-12 from the floor to go along with a team-high tying six rebounds, one assist and one steal. Zykera Rice added 16 points, while Jill Townsend rounded out the double-figure scoring with 10. Jessie Loera dished out a season-high six assists while adding eight points and three steals in the win.
 
"I thought we did a lot of great things defensively [tonight]," head women's basketball coach Lisa Fortier said. "…It was a battle on offense and it was a battle on defense. I don't know if it was one side harder than the other, but it's one I'm glad we came out ahead on."
 
The Bulldogs started hot, hitting four of their first five attempts to take an early 8-4 lead, but a 4-0 Gaels run tied the game with 4:09 left to go. With 2:51 remaining, the teams were still tied, this time 13-all, but the Bulldogs outscored the Gaels 10-3 to close the period to gain a seven-point lead (23-16) heading into the second period.
 
Gonzaga held Saint Mary's to 26.3 percent shooting in the second quarter and extended its lead to eight, 35-27, at the half.
 
The Bulldogs controlled play to start the third period, putting together an 8-0 run to claim their largest lead of the game at 16 (43-27). Saint Mary's slowly chipped away at GU's lead, outscoring the Bulldogs 14-7 over the final 3:40 to cut the lead to seven (54-47) by the end of the third.
 
Gonzaga was scoreless for the first 2:10 of the fourth while a 5-0 Gaels run cut the lead to two (54-52) just 90 second into the final period. A layup from Townsend ended GU's scoring drought, and a subsequent jumper from Smith gave the Zags a six-point lead with seven minutes to go. Smith netted seven of her 17 total points in the fourth quarter, including a huge trey with 2:20 remaining to put the Zags up eight, 68-60. Gonzaga finished the quarter on 4-0 run to claim the 74-62 win to remain unbeaten in WCC play.
 
"[That three] felt really good," Smith said. "My teammates did an awesome job of sucking in the defense and kicking it out to me, so it felt good seeing it go in. Especially at that moment in time."
 
Saint Mary's was led by Megan McKay with 29 points and eight rebounds while Sam Simons added 14 points.
 
Gonzaga continues conference play at home Saturday, Jan. 5 against Pacific. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. at the McCarthey Athletic Center.