PORTLAND, Ore. – The Gonzaga women's basketball team opened up West Coast Conference competition with a 76-65 win over the University of Portland.

Senior Melody Kempton had a dominating performance with a career-high 25 points. Sophomore Yvonne Ejim was right behind her with a double-double performance of 22 points and 10 rebounds, which are both career records for her.

In the first quarter, Kempton led the team with six points within eight minutes of play. Sophomore McKayla Williams had a team-high three rebounds and one block. The Zags shot a at 40 percent in the opening quarter and forced four turnovers.

With a last-second three pointer by Portland's Maddie Muhlheim, the Pilots took a 16-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Gonzaga went on its largest run of the night, going 11-0 in over just two minutes of play. Kempton went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and scored 13 points and grabbed a steal. Freshman Bree Salenbien also went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe in just three minutes of action.

The Bulldogs shot at 63.6 percent from the field and recorded nine rebounds, compared to Portland's four.

At the half, Gonzaga had a one-point lead at 34-33. The Zags had 24 points in the paint in the first half with another 13 from the bench. Kempton led the team with 19 points and Williams led the team in rebounds with four.

Coming out of the locker room, GU kept its momentum as Ejim recorded eight points and four rebounds in the third quarter. The Zags had 10 points from inside the paint and maintained their lead for the whole quarter.

The Bulldogs had the most points in the fourth, scoring a total of 29. Ejim led with 11 as senior Cierra Walker went 2-for-2 from the field, with one of those being a three-pointer. The Zags drew 14 fouls in the fourth and scored 14 points from the charity stripe as a team.

Overall, Gonzaga outrebounded Portland 42-27 and held the Pilots to a 40 percent shooting performance. Defensively, the Zags forced 11 turnovers and grabbed seven steals on the night.

GU had 32 points come off the bench and 42 from inside the paint. The Bulldogs also controlled the majority of the game and led for over 25 minutes and the game was tied for just over four minutes.

Records: Gonzaga moves to 10-3 on the season and 1-0 in the WCC. Portland falls to 10-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference.

This is the first time since Dec. 2, 2017, that the Zags have had two players score 20+ points in the same game.

Overall, the Zags have remained undefeated in Portland since 2001 and has traveled to the Rose City at least once every year.    
                 
The Zags they have been undefeated in their conference opener since 2016.

Junior Kaylynne Truong recorded a season-high eight assists tonight, just one shy of her career-high of nine.

Up Next: The game on Saturday, Jan. 8, against Santa Clara has been postponed due to COVID protocols within Santa Clara's program.

As of now, the next game for Gonzaga is Thursday, Jan.13 at Pacific. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. Live stats and video can be found at GoZags.com along with @ZagWBB on Instagram and Twitter.