SPOKANE, Wash – In their first matchup of the season, the Gonzaga women's basketball team had a gritty win over the University of San Francisco, 55-49.
The Bulldogs were led by sophomore Yvonne Ejim who scored 17 points and eight rebounds. Junior Kayleigh Truong was the next leading scorer with 11 points. Senior Melody Kempton led the team with 10 rebounds and also scored seven points for the Bulldogs.
In the first quarter, the Zags scored seven points in the and Ejim led the way with five of those. Defensively, the Bulldogs held the Dons to 11 points and only allowed one three-pointer.
On the boards, GU led 11-8 and forced four turnovers in the opening 10 minutes.
Gonzaga picked up the pace in the second with 13 points as Ejim still paced the Zags with four more points.
Overall, GU shot at 22.2 percent from the field and grabbed three steals. Defensively, the Bulldogs held USF to a 17.6 shooting percentage and outrebounded the Dons 26-21 overall in the first half.
Going into halftime, the Zags were down 22-20 and Ejim had a team-high nine points and five rebounds. Redshirt senior Anamaria Virjoghe and Kayleigh Troung also grabbed five rebounds for GU.
In the third quarter, Gonzaga picked it up on offensive to score 16 points and took a 36-34 lead. Ejim led the quarter again with six points, one assist, a rebound and a steal within just four minutes of play.
The Zags shot at 38.9 percent from the field and forced five turnovers as the team scored seven points off those miscues. The Dons shot at 33.3 percent and held to just one three-point shot in the third quarter.
Gonzaga had its best performance of the night in the final quarter as the team shot at 53.8 percent and went on an 8-0 run in the last two minutes. Virjoghe came in clutch in the final 10 minutes as she went 3-for-3 from the field and grabbed two rebounds.
Kayleigh Truong also made a key bucket in the final 22 seconds to secure the 55-49 win for GU.
The Bulldogs outrebounded the Dons 45-37 and forced 13 turnovers on the night as USF shot at 30.4 percent. Overall, Gonzaga's bench scored 31 points and 30 points came from inside the paint
Records: The Zags move to 17-5 overall and 9-1 in the WCC. USF falls to 12-12 and 6-6 in the conference.
Up Next: The Bulldogs go on a road trip to California later this week to take on Santa Clara Thursday, Feb. 10, followed by another matchup against USF on Saturday, Feb. 12. Live stats and video can be found at GoZags.com along with Instagram and Twitter, @ZagWBB.
