SPOKANE, Wash. – The Gonzaga women's basketball team fought hard for a 64-54 win over Stephen F. Austin in McCarthey Athletic Center on Sunday night.
Coming into tonight's contest, SFA was averaging 85.9 points a game with a scoring margin of 29.8, ranking them the fifth-best scoring offense in the country.
Senior
Cierra Walker and junior
Kaylynne Truong both scored 18 points for Gonzaga, marking a career-best for Truong and a career-high at GU for Walker.
Two Zags also recorded double figures in rebounding as redshirt senior
Anamaria Virjoghe had a career-best of 13 boards and sophomore
Yvonne Ejim grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds. Overall, the Bulldogs outrebounded the Ladyjacks 49-31 and forced 11 turnovers.
In the first quarter, the Zags outrebounded SFA 12-7 and took a 9-7 lead over the Ladyjacks. Virjoghe recorded five rebounds in the first alone and tallied two points. Walker led the team with three points after draining one from beyond the arc.
The Zags scored 13 points in the second quarter with
Kaylynne Truong draining a three to lead the team. Senior
Abby O'Connor tallied three rebounds and two assists and Ejim also recorded two points and three rebounds.
Overall, Gonzaga shot 54.4 percent in the quarter and held SFA to only shooting a 33.3 percentage.
Going into the halftime down 24-22, the Zags came back out aggressive to keep it close. The Bulldogs cut their deficit to one point with seven minutes left in the third after a three-pointer from O'Connor.
Ejim tied the game at 33-33 with three minutes remaining in the third before GU regained the lead at 38-36 as Walker drained a three with just over a minute left in the third.
The game was tied again going into the fourth quarter before Gonzaga took over. After Walker tied it at 52-52 with almost three minutes remaining in regulation,
Kaylynne Truong made a jumper off a turnover to give Gonzaga the lead, which they never gave back up.
Walker then made back-to-back threes with a minute and a half remaining to give GU a comfortable eight-point lead. Gonzaga closed out the game with four made free throws by
Kaylynne Truong.
The Zags ended the game in a dominant fashion as they went on a 14-2 run in the final three minutes of regulation. Defensively, GU held SFA to only 1-of-7 from the field in the final part of the game and Gonzaga went a perfect 4-for-4 to close out the win.
Records: GU improves to 8-2 on the season and the Ladyjacks fall to 8-2 as the Bulldogs snap their five-game winning streak.
As a team, Gonzaga recorded 11 blocks, the first time the team has recorded more than 10 blocks since 2015. Virjoghe tied her career-high with four while Ejim led the team with a career-best of five.
Up Next: Gonzaga travels to UC Davis next Sunday, Dec. 19. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. Live stats can be found on GoZags.com and the game will be streamed on ESPN+. Gameday information can also be found on Twitter and Instagram, @ZagWBB.
