SPOKANE, Wash. – Yvonne Ejim had a career night with 35 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Zags to a 66-65 victory over the Portland Pilots.
 
In a back-and-forth battle in the final two minutes of the game, Portland (16-3, 5-3 WCC) took a one-point lead with 21 seconds left. The Zags (11-8, 6-2 WCC) responded with an offensive push by Allie Turner who saw a good look at the basket. Ejim flew to the basket to grab the impressive offensive rebound and she made the second-chance layup with nine seconds left to take the lead for GU.
 
With nine seconds remaining and the one-point lead for the Bulldogs, Gonzaga forced Portland to miss two shots to clinch the second win over Portland this season.
 
In the first half, GU was led by Ejim with 16 points as the Bulldogs and Pilots were tied at 29-29 going into halftime. The Zags were winning the rebound battle at the half, 27-17, with Ejim grabbing a team-high of eight. Claire O'Connor had the next most rebounds for GU with five.
 
The teams both shot almost equally in the opening half, but Gonzaga edged out Portland's 31% shooting performance slightly with 36.4%. Ejim herself went 70% from the field after going 7-for-10. Additionally, the Zags had eight assists on 12 made field goals with four of them coming Allie Turner herself.
 
Gonzaga opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run after forcing six turnovers in under four minutes. The Zags finished the third by outscoring the Pilots 20-9 to take the 49-38 lead going into the fourth quarter.
 
Portland responded in the final quarter and tied the game with two minutes remaining. The final two minutes saw six lead changes as the Zags held on to win the game with some impressive defense and rebounding.
 
Overall, The Bulldogs outrebounded Portland, 40-35. The Zags also shot 41.5% from the field and held Portland to 35.1%. Defensively, GU forced 14 turnovers from the Pilots and scored 15 points off those miscues.
 
Notes:
- With 12 field goals today, Ejim now holds the Gonzaga record for most career field goals with 838. She broke Tammy Tibble's record of 828 from 1984-88.
 
- Her 35 points today is a career-best for Ejim and was just three points shy of tying a GU record of 38 points in a single game from Amy Simpson on Feb. 2, 1983.
 
- Ejim has scored double digits in 61-straight games. She has now scored 2,055 points in her career. She needs 111 more points to become first all-time, ahead of Heather Bowman's 2,165 (2006-10).

- Ejim is second all-time in rebounds with 977. She needs seven more to pass Kay Koppelman's 983 rebounds set from 1987-91.
 
Up Next:
Gonzaga hits the road to play LMU this Saturday, Jan. 18, at 2 p.m. Live stats can be found at GoZags.com and the game is streamed on ESPN+.