Ejim Eclipses 2,000 Career Points as Gonzaga Dominate Santa Clara

and Maud continues her stretch of strong performances

The Gonzaga Women squared off against the visiting Santa Clara Broncos yesterday afternoon where the Bulldogs displayed an absolutely dominant performance that earned them an 82-56 and took their record to 9-8 (4-2)

This victory represents the team’s second 3-game winning streak this season and 5th win in seven contests. More importantly, this win wasn’t just any win as the Zags set some team-records for the ‘24-25 campaign and a couple players set some records.

With regards to the team, the 82 points scored yesterday ties the season-high for this team set against Montana in the first game of the season, which feels like a lifetime ago. Those points were also scored with remarkable efficiency, at least from the inside the arc, as the team shot 65.7% from that range, a number that currently registers as their season-best.

While there were some notable performances that helped propel this scoreline, which I’ll cover shortly, this wasn’t just one or two players willing their team to victory; this was a consistent, team-centered match that saw each player filling their role at a high level.

The Zags registered 21 assists, the second consecutive game with 20+ assists and their 5th of the season. In those previous four games, the Zags averaged 17.5 turnovers per game, which can almost negate the assists depending on the game situation. However, in this match, the Bulldogs only committed 10 turnovers, a season-low mark that also breaks a stretch of ten successive games with 15+ turnovers.

Not to be outdone, the Gonzaga defense held Santa Clara to just 52 points on 40% 2FG and 19% 3FG. This represents the 4th time the Bulldogs have held their opponent to under 60 points and a stretch of eight games where they’ve held opponents to under 40% overall shooting. In that time, the Zags have both faced teams with less than ideal deep shooting options and have also locked down the perimeter better as only three teams, Colorado State (34.5%), San Francisco (47.8%), and Pepperdine (29%) having shot better than 20% from three point range.

On an individual level, Maud Huijbens apparently looked at her numbers from the previous game against the Pilots and said, “hold my beer” because the Nederlander went off for a career high 23 points on 10-14 shooting. She also snagged 10 rebounds for her second consecutive double-double. Prior to her last two games, Maud was averaging 8.3 points per game on the season and now she the senior forward is averaging 9.8 points per game. Wonderful to see her resilience and dedication to her craft paying off in such dramatic fashion.

Yvonne Ejim bounced back from an inefficient outing against Portland as she registered 19 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and just 1 turnover. Those 19 points propelled Ejim up another step for the Gonzaga all-time career scoring record as she now has 2003 points, which means she currently stands 3rd. I’m going to do an article shortly reviewing Ejim’s progress in the various Gonzaga career records for which she currently sits within the top 10 so stay-tuned for further updates.

Claire O’Connor chipped in 11 points, 1 rebound, 4 assists, and 0 turnovers. Her 3-6 shooting from beyond the arc lead the team on a night where no other Zag registered more than 1 such make, including Allie Turner who had a rough night shooting, 2-7 overall and 0-5 from deep.

The Missourian true freshman may not have shot the ball well, but Turner continues to demonstrate her aptitude for the point guard position by 3 assists to just 1 turnover, which continues a nice 4-game stretch in this department. Across that time, she’s averaging 6 assists and 2.3 turnovers compared to her previous 13 games where she posted 3.2 assists and 3.3. Allie’s been a bit inconsistent in her shooting and three point scoring across these recent games, 10.8 points, 43.3% FG, and 34.5% 3FG compared to 13.6 points, 44.4% FG, and 43.8% 3FG, but I still think she’s developing nicely and would assume some of the shift in her game comes from Coach Fortier’s instruction, which highlights Turner’s flexibility.

Ines Bettencourt drew the start again and despite only posting 3 points, the Portuguese “true” point guard, according UConn legend Geno Auriemma, played very much like it yesterday. She posted an offensive rating of 138, third on the team for those with 15+ minutes, and since she only scored 3, you know her contributions came in other ways as she distributed 5 assists with just 1 turnover while also grabbing 3 rebounds and registering 1 steal. Prior to the team’s blowout against Florida State, Ines committed 7 turnovers for the second time in 2024 and was averaging 3.8 per game. Since then, her minutes have dropped by 10 per game, but she’s responded with improved assists, 2.9 compared to 2.2, and less turnovers, 2.0.

Other quick individual notes to highlight include

• Bree Salenbien continuing to produce offensively amidst her minutes restriction as she dropped 7 points while also adding 2 rebounds and 1 steal.
• McKynnlie Dalan got some run this match after not featuring last game and she turned this into 5 points and 1 rebound, but did commit 2 turnovers in her 12 minutes.
• Tayla Dalton had a fairly quiet 19 minutes, but the St. Mary’s transfer looked good as she continues to rehab from an unspecified foot injury sustained prior to the season.
• Esther Little continues to show little bits of offensive aggression, which is nice, and it’s even better that it’s not hampering her defensive energy as exhibited by her 6 rebounds and 2 steals.

Overall, this was one of the most dominant performances we’ve seen from the Gonzaga Bulldogs all season and was reminiscent of the first game of the year where they also scored 82 and dismantled their opponent. This team looks like they’re starting to gel with some of their recent performances and this should bode well as WCC Conference play continues forward.

The Bulldogs will face Washington State this coming Saturday, 01/11, in a road game in Pullman that kicks off at 12pm PST.