SPOKANE, Wash. – The No. 17 Gonzaga women's basketball team overcame a 20-point first-half deficit to defeat Portland 62-57 Sunday afternoon inside the McCarthey Athletic Center. The 20-point deficit is the largest the Bulldogs has erased in a victory under head coach Lisa Fortier.
 
"I think we showed that we do have that fight," Fortier said. "The second half is something to be proud of…The fact that they were able to not drop their heads and chalk it in to, 'Well we're down 20. That's too much to overcome' says something about our character and our team and just the will that they had."
 
Gonzaga (12-1, 1-0 WCC) finished with three players in double-figures, led by a season-high tying 18 points from Jill Townsend. Townsend was a perfect 4-of-4 from long range and added five steals, one block and eight rebounds in the win. Twelve of her team-high 18 points came in the second half. Jenn Wirth added 14 points and seven rebounds while Katie Campbell chipped in 12 points.
 
Portland (7-5, 0-1 WCC) was superb in the first quarter, shooting 66.7 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from three while controlling the glass 11-7. The Bulldogs did not have an answer for the Pilots as they gave up 26 points to the visitors in the first 10 minutes. Portland limited GU to 12 points in the first, and by the 8:01 mark of the second period had extended its lead to 20 points (34-14). The Zags slowly chipped away at the lead, and by the end of the half trailed by 14 (37-24).
 
"[At half] our coaches reiterated that we needed to come together and play as a team," Wirth said. "There were a few spurts there where we were all trying to do our own thing, and we're better together. That really helped us in the second half."
 
Townsend came alive in the third period, scoring nine of her 18 points in the quarter. The Okanogan, Wash., native hit back-to-back treys midway through the quarter to cut the lead to five (43-38), but Portland countered with a 5-0 run to get the lead back to double-digits with 4:23 to go in the period. Gonzaga outscored Portland by four in the final minutes of the period to cut the lead to single digits (53-47) heading into the fourth.
 
In the final period, the Zags shot 40.0 percent from the floor including 50.0 percent from three while limiting UP to just four total points in the closing period. With 3:57 to go, Townsend sunk her fourth trey of the game to cut the lead to one, and on the following possession Campbell hit a big trey to give the Zags their first lead since the 8:41 mark of the first quarter. Gonzaga never lost its lead, finishing the final minutes on a 5-2 run to secure the 62-57 win.
 
"It was a lot about just grit and toughing it out," Townsend said. "We came out [in the second half] and executed."
 
Portland was led by Kate Andersen with a game-high 20 points while Haylee Andrews added 18.
 
Gonzaga returns to play Thursday, Jan. 2 at BYU in Provo, Utah. The game is set to begin at 6 p.m. PT. Check GoZags.com for updated game-time information.