SPOKANE, Wash. – In the first home game since Dec. 12, the Gonzaga women's basketball team defeated the University of San Diego, 76-66. The Zags move to 3-0 in the West Coast Conference and 12-4 overall.
Four Bulldogs scored in double figures as sophomore
Yvonne Ejim led the team with a near double-double performance of 15 points and eight rebounds.
Junior
Kayleigh Truong scored 14 points and dished out six assists. Junior
Kaylynne Truong also scored in double digits with 12 point and four assists. Senior
Cierra Walker rounded out the double-digit performances with 11 and seven rebounds.
Senior
Melody Kempton also nearly had a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds.
In the opening quarter, Ejim led the way with six points as
Kayleigh Truong scored another five. Kempton dominated the boards and grabbed a team-high of four in the first quarter.
The Zags took the lead for the majority of the first quarter as they shot 50 percent from the field. The team also grabbed 11 rebounds with Kempton reeling in four of those.
Gonzaga scored 19 points in the second with O'Connor leading the way with four. Walker grabbed a team-high four rebounds and drained a shot from beyond the arc.
At the half, Gonzaga led 35-30 and was shooting at 46.7 percent. The Zags scored 20 points from inside the paint and 17 from off the bench.
Coming out of the locker rooms,
Kayleigh Truong got things started for GU with a free throw and a second-chance three-pointer to take a seven-point lead.
The Zags did not let go of their lead for the remainder of the game as Walker scored a team-high eight points in the final quarter and went 6-for-6 from the charity strip.
The team went 20-for-22 from the charity stripe to close out the 10-point win in the fourth quarter. Overall, the team shot at 82.8 percent from the free throw line.
Gonzaga outrebounded the Torero's 40-36 and held USD to a 38.6 shooting percentage. The Zags forced 17 turnovers and were able to score 14 points off USD's miscues. Gonzaga also had 35 points come from off the bench and 32 from inside the paint.
Records: GU has now won 10-straight over USD and improves to 50-23 overall against the Toreros. San Diego Falls to 10-3 overall and 2-1 in the WCC.
In WCC Play: In their three WCC wins, the Zags have averaged 77.6 points with an average margin of victory of 20.7 points.
Up Next: Gonzaga stays home to host the University of Portland on Thursday, Jan. 27. Live stats and live video can be found at GoZags.com along with @ZagWBB