HONOLULU, Hawaii – The women's basketball team cruised by Eastern Illinois, 74-53, in the second game of the Rainbow Wahine Showdown.
Three Zags scored in double figures with junior
Kaylynne Truong leading the way with a career-high 17 points. Junior
Kayleigh Truong recorded 11 and sophomore
Yvonne Ejim tallied 10 points. Seniors
Abby O'Connor and
Melody Kempton also nearly scored in double digits as they both scored nine.
Senior
Anamaria Virjoghe recorded a career-high of four blocks and led the team in rebounds with seven.
As a team, Gonzaga made 13 three-pointers with
Kaylynne Truong making five of them, marking another career-high for the junior.
In the first quarter, the Zags came out strong and went on a 9-0 scoring run to help secure the lead for the entire game. O'Connor led the team with six points in the first frame as she went 3-for-5 from the field.
The Bulldogs went on another run in the second quarter, going 7-0 with just over two minutes remaining in the half.
Going into the third quarter up 34-25, Gonzaga had its best shooting percentage of the game in the third frame, shooting 72.7 percent and going 8-for-11 in the field. The team also shot at 70 percent from beyond the arc, draining 7-of-10 shots. Both Truongs recorded a combine five three-pointers and shot at 100 percent from the three-point line.
The Zags finished strong in the fourth to secure the 21-point victory. The team outrebounded the Panthers 16-5 in final frame as sophomore
McKayla Williams led the team with three. Ejim led the scoring action with four points within five minutes.
Overall GU outrebounded EIU 48-28 and forced eight turnovers. The Zags scored 36 points from the bench and had 22 points come from inside the paint. Defensively, Gonzaga held the Panthers to a 31.3 shooting percentage as the Zags shot 49.1 percent from the field.
Records: Gonzaga moves to 5-1 overall as Eastern Illinois falls to 4-2.
Up Next: The Zags finish the Rainbow Wahine Showdown by playing the University of Hawaii tomorrow. Tipoff is slated for 2:30 p.m. PT and it will be streamed on ESPN+. Live stats can be found at GoZag.com along with Twitter and Instagram, @ZagWBB.
