Gonzaga Women Escape Corvalis Unscathed

what a game. what a game. prilosec please

Yesterday evening, the Gonzaga Women faced off against the Oregon State Beavers and what ensued was pure tension. Thankfully, the Zags buckled down when it counted, sent the game into overtime, and left Corvalis with a clutch win, 66-62.

If you recall, in the first matchup against OSU in Spokane, the Bulldogs blew a solid lead in the fourth quarter to allow the Beavers back into the game and eventually allow them to steal a rare in-conference defeat for the Zags.

Well, last night was kind of the exact opposite. If you’re on twitter, you’ll probably have seen this ESPN win probability graph that was posted by the official Zags WBB account:

Let’s compare that to the previous game on 12/28/24 at home that Gonzaga lost:

Ya, it be like that, don’t it?

Before I highlight the players and coaching staff in this matchup, I feel the need to take a pause and mention the referees because what the fuck. That was an atrocious officiating performance that basically did a disservice to both teams with a slight bias towards OSU. The fouls called had the classy Lisa Fortier simply laughing at the incompetence, as one should do in all honestly, while Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck behaved like a giant baby and deserved at least a formal warning, if not a technical.

The broadcasters were clearly OSU sponsored as they tried to laud the talent of the referees for basic things like calling back Allie Turner’s three point shot that came after the shot clock expired, something that I feel I recognized despite not seeing the actual shot clock given I’m +3,000 miles away, yet even they seemed miffed at times. I couldn’t stand it and I think the WCC should be ashamed of the officiating crew. The only reason why I’m criticizing what went down is because the Zags won because if they lost, I don’t think I’d be discussing this topic so as to avoid the “blame game” mentality considering how badly the Bulldogs played throughout much of this contest.

To highlight that play, let’s look at the shooting: 19-44 from two and 5-14 from three. It’s not the worst performance of the year, that’s a toss-up between the Stanford and Texas Tech games, but it’s the sixth worst game of the season from inside the arc and tied for fourth place in the least amount of three balls that drained the net. Those numbers look even worse though when you exclude Yvonne’s 31 points, second highest of the season and third highest of her career, on 12-24 shooting, the rest of the squad shot 12-30.

And yes, if you watched the match, you would have seen it, particularly in shots around the rim owing to Oregon State’s massive front line with players ranging from 6’0” to 6’7”, but I think the numbers actually downplay some of the solid baskets these Zags made yesterday.

Tayla Dalton had a nice drive along the baseline in third quarter in which she received a late pass after entering the key and flipped up one of the smoothest circus but not quite circus shots since Drew Timme was spinning guys at the local hoedown. Not only that, she did it while absolutely surrounded by the 6’5 Kelsey Rees and the defensively minded Tiara Bolden. This may have only been two points, but it helped Gonzaga secure their lead and saw Allie Turner and Maud Huijbens knock down three pointers in the subsequent possessions so it clearly stoked on her teammates.

A couple minutes later, Ines Bettencourt, who drew the start in the absence of Claire O’Connor who was stuck at home with an influenza infection, drifted from the top of the key off to the weak side corner slot to find the open slot aided by a nice Esther Little when McKynnlie Dalan, at the strong side elbow, threw an overhead dime to the Portugeuse guard who calmly caught it and drained the open three ball.

Obviously some players struggled, see Bree Salenbien’s 1-9 shooting performance, but everyone found a way to contribute in some way or another. Esther Little continued her stretch of strong performances, despite an unimpressive stat line that featured 0 shots, 0 free throws, 4 rebounds, 3 on the offensive end, and 1 steal, that would have earned Esther likely more than the 27 minutes she played if not for the questionable fouls called by the officiating crew. Similarly, McKynnlie Dalan basically doesn’t show up on the boxscore with just 1 rebound, 1 assist, and 1 block, but her defensive performances against the twin towers employed often by Coach Rueck stood out significantly to me.

Maud Huijbens’ night was likely going to see the Dutchwoman on a time limit as she’s still getting back into the swing of things with her concussion injury sustained 1 month ago, but I think she senior might’ve gotten a bit more run last night, just 23 minutes, if she wasn’t one of the many Bulldog’s fighting foul trouble. In those minutes, she posted 7 points on 3-6 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block.

Near the end of the fourth quarter, Maud received a scary blow to the chin by an out-of-control Catarina Ferreira that absolutely deserved to be an offensive foul, yet, puzzlingly so, the referees argued about who the ball went off before ultimately deciding it was OSU’s ball. Thankfully, Huijbens was able to get up on her own accord and eventually returned in overtime looking like her usual self. I was really concerned when I saw this play given her recent extended absence and I hope everything goes well for her because while she didn’t miss any extended time, those head injuries can be mighty squirrely.

If we look at the overall team performance, I’m impressed by the turnovers, or lack thereof from GU, as the committed just 12 while forcing OSU into 16. Having a positive turnover differential is an incredibly rare feat for this ‘24-25 group as it’s happened just four times prior to this match. While I can’t quite find a statistic highlighting the points off turnovers from each game, I would have to assume this is also one of those rare times the Bulldogs surpassed their opponent as happened yesterday with a 16-11 margin.

The defense also stepped up big tonight as they helped anchor this team by stifling the opposition and allowing their star forward to get to work. While Gonzaga’s 41% FG and 36% 3FG may not look nice, it’s surprisingly better than Oregon State’s 37% FG and 35% 3FG. This was incredibly important in a night when the Beavers were getting all the calls and went to the free throw line 24 times compared to the Zags’ 17.

So while the non-Ejim Bulldogs had some solid performances, let’s be honest here: yesterday was, like usual, all about Yvonne Ejim.

31 points, 12-24 shooting and 6-7 free throws, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal. Not only that, across the final 10 minutes of regular time, Vonny scored 11 of the total 14 points, knocked down two clutch free throws with just nine seconds remaining, and looked like a stud destined for the WNBA.

Let’s hope tomorrow’s game comes with less of a need for rolaids. Be sure to tune into ESPN+ tomorrow to watch the Gonzaga Women face off against LMU at home in a game slated to tip-off at 1pm PST and be sure to wear your pink shirt to match the afternoon theme.