CORVALLIS, Ore. – The 5th-seeded Gonzaga women's basketball team got off to a hot start and never looked back, defeating 12th-seeded Little Rock 68-51 Saturday afternoon in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.
 
Zykera Rice led Gonzaga (29-4) with 18 points off 8-of-14 from the floor to go along with six rebounds. Katie Campbell added 15 points off 5-of-6 from long range, and the junior added seven boards, two blocks, an assist and a steal.
 
Gonzaga dominated the glass, out-rebounding Little Rock (21-11) 43-27 while outscoring the Trojans 24-20 in the paint.
 
The Zags started hot, racing out to a 16-0 lead in the first six minutes. UALR's first and only points of the quarter came off a jumper from Ronjanae DeGray with 3:05 to go in the quarter. The Bulldogs shot 47.1 percent from the floor while limiting the Trojans to two points and 6.7 percent shooting. UALR's two first-quarter points are the fewest allowed in single period this season by the Bulldogs; the last time Gonzaga limited an opponent to two points in a quarter was against BYU on Feb. 24, 2018.
 
"I'm really excited for our players," head women's basketball coach Lisa Fortier said. "I thought that they started the game great. You don't have to start every game with a quarter like we had in order to win a game, but there were going to be ups and downs. We knew that was going to happen. So it was nice to get off to the start that we did so it gave ourselves a little bit of a buffer."
 
Little Rock started to find its rhythm in the second as the Trojans outscored Gonzaga 18-2 over the first eight minutes of the quarter to cut GU's lead to nine points (29-20). With under a minute to go, Chandler Smith found Campbell who converted one of her five treys to give GU a 12-point buffer heading into the break.
 
Despite shooting 63.6 percent in the third, the Bulldogs were outscored 18-17 by Little Rock. The Trojans forced five turnovers on the Zags. With 10 minutes to go, the Bulldogs claimed a 49-38 lead.
 
Gonzaga outscored the Trojans 19-10 in the final period, thanks to 10 points alone from Rice, and closed on a 6-0 run to earn the 68-51 win.
 
Little Rock was led by Tori Lasker with 16 points while Terrion Moore added 13.
 
Gonzaga will face Oregon State Monday, March 25 at 6 p.m. at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore.