the team returns to .500 and lays down some building blocks
After two rough matches against former Pac-12 schools Stanford and California, the Women bounced back against visiting Wyoming yesterday with their 62-51 victory.
Gonzaga was celebrating Native American heritage at the Nike N7 game and featured their unique turquoise uniforms, which I personally really like and represent my first ever Bulldog uniform purchase.
Unfortunately, the game started off disappointedly with Ines making a careless turnover on the first possession and the Zags looked stuck in the mud until the 2 minute mark in the first quarter. At that time, the Bulldogs were down 15-10 and Yvonne Ejim was on the bench after committing her 2nd foul shortly before so things were not looking good for the gang.
However, my initial apprehension was quickly erased as the Zags would fire three back-back 3s and Maud would chip in with a free throw to send the team into the 2nd up by 20-15. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs couldn’t keep that productive stretch and had to battle a tough Wyoming throughout the subsequent 30 minutes with Gonzaga never trailing, but also never leading by more than 9 points until the final minute when the game devolved into fouling and time-outs.
Coach Fortier trotted out a 3-2 zone defense midway through the match to solidify the inside with the two bigs alternating their defensive assignment on Wyoming’s single post player, most commonly Allyson Fertig. If that’s a name you recall, you have a good memory as the 6’4” senior center was highlighted in my non-conference schedule preview as she was awarded the ‘24-25 MWC Preseason Conference Co-Player of the Year and came into the game having scored 18, 22, and 21 in the previous matches.
The defensive switch helped limit the talented big as she finished with just 6 points on 3-8 shooting in her 35 minutes and the other big, 6’0” sophomore Madi Symons from Coeur d’Alene, ID, scored just 1 point in her 36 minutes. With just 7 points coming from their bigs, one might be tempted to ask, “well where did Wyoming’s 51 points come from then?”
And unfortunately, that’s an easy answer: Emily Mellema and, to a lesser extent, Malen Pederson.
Mellema, a Lynden, WA native came into the year with her best scoring numbers the season prior with 8.8 points per game and just 23 double-digit scoring performances in 100 games. So while she may not have been the top priority in the pre-game scouting and gameplan, Emily needed to be such by the end as she finished with 27 points, a career high, on 10-18 overall shooting including 4-6 from deep while also chipping in 4 steals, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block. She punished the Bulldogs from deep at basically every opportunity someone missed a switch or didn’t recover in time.
Malen Pederson wasn’t as dominant with just 12 points on an inefficient 4-16 shooting performance, but these two players seemed to find pockets in the defense and exploit them to enough effect to keep their team in the game. Honestly, if Allyson Fertig has an even remotely decent game, I think it’s entirely possible the young Zags could have given up their second consecutive home loss, which likely would have set some sort of record.
Ines Bettencourt had a rough start to the game with two turnovers, but she ended up scoring a team-high 17 points on 5-10 shooting including 2-3 from deep along with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, and 2 steals. However, she never really looked like that “true point guard” that Geno Auriemma talked about so long ago as she committed 4 turnovers and looked like she was trying to do too much.
Yvonne Ejim battled foul trouble all game and only saw 24 minutes during which time she continued her double-digit scoring with 13 points while also adding in 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal. Like Ines, Yvonne also committed 4 turnovers and it’s painfully obvious there is a disconnect between everyone else, with maybe the exception of Maud, doesn’t know how to feed Ejim in the post at the right times.
Allie Turner saw her double-digit scoring streak end as she could only score 9 and had an uncharacteristic 1-4 shooting performance from beyond the arc. However, that three she dropped was eerily reminiscent of Brynna Maxwell’s confidence and quick release. Along with Claire O’Connor, Allie was one of two starters who did not commit a turnover yesterday, which doesn’t necessarily mean they were perfect in their decision making, but shows quality progress at this early stage in the season.
— Gonzaga Women’s Basketball (@ZagWBB) November 17, 2024
With only three days between games, I wasn’t expecting a lot of changes in how this team played, but it’s still hard watching this team work out their inexperience in live action compared to what I saw with last year’s team. That doesn’t mean they’re not enjoyable, but there are quite a bit of mistakes, most small in this matchup, that make for some… shall we say, edge of your seat viewing.
That should be expected though as at multiple points yesterday, the 5 Zags on the floor were all entirely new players to the McCarthey Center as they had either just transferred in or redshirted the year prior. I don’t think anyone had players like Christabel Osarobo or Vera Gunaydin getting this many minutes, 10 and 14 respectively, on their bingo card heading into the season and as long as players like Tayla Dalton, Esther Little, and Lauren Whitaker continue to be out, this team will have quite a bit of growing pains.
However, watching these young players get important court time in tough matchups like yesterday gives me a lot of hope for this team, not just this year, but for the future. I’m also excited to watch this immature team gel over the course of the season and make progress. I think we saw some of that last night whether that be Claire O’Connor’s nice drive from the perimeter to beat her defender to the hoop, Christabel leading the 3/4 court press then knocking down a three that could force future opponents to actually care about her when drawing up a gameplan, or watching the development of high quality leadership from our stalwarts Ejim and Huijbens.
This team’s a wildcard and if you’re not watching them, then you’re missing out. Be sure to plan for the home game against Rice this Thursday at 9:00pm EST on ESPN2.
What did you think about the game? Anything I’m missing? Is the 3-2 zone defense a possible answer for this team? Hit the comments below!