an important overtime victory at home for the Zags
After a quick turn-around trip from Moraga two days earlier, Gonzaga hosted the Washington State Cougars at home in a sold-out match featuring a strong Kennel Club that had camped out the night before for the first time ever for a Women’s game. What ensued was a tense matchup between the two squads from the Eastside that featured some tough defense, poor offense, and, ultimately, an overtime extension that resulted in a 73-69 victory for the Bulldogs.
The first half of this game was…well, ugly. Both teams couldn’t seem to get an easy basket both because of their own ineptitude and because both defenses looked ready for a challenge. Gonzaga shot 8-36 overall. Washington State shot 7-26 overall. This resulted in a first half score of 22-20 with the Bulldogs scrapping by on the quality of the first ten minutes, rather than the second.
One interesting thing that did happen in the first was the amount of second-chance opportunities the Bulldogs earned because of their 11 or 12 offensive rebounds. As you can clearly tell from the shooting line listed above, the Zags were unable to convert much of this into tangible success, but it was still curious to witness the lack of defensive adjustments Kamie Ethridge’s squad displayed considering they got out-rebounded 40-17 in the first match against GU. At the conclusion of this overtime victory, the Bulldogs also won the battle on the glass with 54 rebounds, 21 on the offensive end, compared to just 32 by the Cougs.
While the first half was a sludge match from both squads, the second half turned up the dial although unfortunately Washington State found their groove as the period continued. Just after the midway mark in the third, the Cougars had created an 8 point lead and looked almost ready to run away with the game. Thankfully, some important play from the likes of Esther Little, Bree Salenbien, and Ines Bettencourt helped the Zags get their foothold and keep the game within a single possession at the end of the 30th minute, 41-40 Cougs.
If the third quarter was a breakout from the doldrums, the fourth quarter looked like a dam had broken as each team knocked down jumper after jumper, despite the persisting high quality defense, and the game remained gridlocked. There was a brief moment of respite for the Bulldogs at the four minute mark as the home team went on a small run to secure a 5-point lead. However, a three minute scoring drought let the Cougs climb back into the contest and threaten multiple times with a tied game in the dying moments, but ultimately, they couldn’t capitalize and the game went into overtime.
The tension of the fourth continued into the final period with both teams going back and forth at each other. The Zags looked energetic, but not as clinical as the preceding 20 minutes. On the flip side, the Cougs look gassed and despite sticking with the Bulldogs initially, they went scoreless in the final two and a half minutes and flubbed some real chances to secure the road win.
Look at this win probability courtesy of ESPN:
Sheesh.
This was an important victory for many reasons. First and foremost being that this may essentially be the nail in the proverbial coffin relating to the Zags’ chances at winning the WCC Regular Season title. Let’s take a look at the current conference standings:
- Gonzaga 12-2
- Portland 10-3
- Washington St. 10-5
- Oregon St. 9-6
- St. Mary’s 8-6
- Pacific 8-7
- USF 8-7
Something that should stand out to astute viewers is Gonzaga has won both of its matches against the #2/3 squad and while they have lost both of their matches against OSU and USF, the Bulldogs look to be in full control of their destiny for the WCC Regular Season.
While this was truly a team win, I also want to highlight some individual performances
- Bree Salenbien: this has to be considered her best career performance as the guard finished with 14 points, tied for her career high, as well as a new career high of 10 rebounds, six coming on the offensive glass, while also knocking down some important shots on her way to 6-12 from the field. Not only that, the highest recruit of all time played 26 minutes, her highest ever in college, and her third 20+ minute game in a row.
- Allie Turner: the freshman led all Zags with 41 minutes of game-time during which time she scored 15 points, second on the team, dished out 5 assists, and only committed 1 turnover. The young guard looked locked in all game. She’s so composed and continues to blow my expectations for her. I can’t wait to review those preseason predictions of the players’ season performances.
- Yvonne Ejim: despite an unusually poor shooting night from the fifth year forward, the Canadian played incredibly tough and played like a leader as she finished with a team-high 16 points and 17 rebounds. It was a little interesting watching the substitution patterns for Ejim this match from Fortier considering the lack of formal foul trouble, but it payed off in the end as the star player was buzzing even in the late moments as evidenced by Vonny’s dive to the floor to contest Wazzu’s Mendes loose ball in the final moments of the 4th.
- Maud Huijbes: welcome back! This was the first game back in nearly one month with her last game action against Wazzu on January 11th and while she didn’t have a particularly solid afternoon, it’s great to see such an integral player back on the floor.
Let’s hope that the squad can actualize their greatness this coming Thursday as the gang will travel to Corvalis to face off against Oregon State. Tip-off is currently slated for 6pm PST and should be broadcasted on ESPN+.