Ejim gets some national recognition for her week’s performance
This Saturday, the Bulldogs were coming into a matchup against Loyola Marymount just two days after an emotional victory at Portland and over 1,200 miles away from home. What unfolded was a remarkably tough 30 minutes of play prior to Gonzaga breaking out in the fourth both offensively and defensively on their way to a 69-58 win.
With Maud Huijbens not traveling with the team as she remains on concussion protocol, something not formally announced via Gonzaga’s social media platforms, and players like Tayla Dalton still recovering from injury, Coach Fortier sported the same starting five as the previous match: Yvonne Ejim, Allie Turner, Claire O’Connor, Ines Bettencourt, and Esther Little.
In the first quarter, five different Zags got onto the board with Ejim leading the way at 8 points, but the team struggled to knock down their shots as they went 7-19 overall and 1-5 from beyond the arc. However, Little and Ejim teamed up to snag 7 offensive rebounds, which helped 8 second-chance points and 12 points in the paint. On the flip-side, the Lions’ leading scorer, Naudia Evans looked ready to play as she led all scorers with 10 points in the opening 10 minutes to help her team keep the game close at 17-15 Gonzaga entering the break.
The second quarter started hot for the Bulldogs as the extended their lead to 27-17 just two minutes into the period, but LMU kept bringing the energy one would expect from an underperforming team that was looking for a win to reset their season. Gonzaga went on a a nearly 5 minutes scoring drought which allowed the Lions to get within 2 points and the team battled back and forth before LMU tied it up entering the half. You know what coincides nicely with that Gonzaga scoring drought? Ejim picking up her second foul at the 6:40 mark, which led to her not featuring on the floor again before the halftime whistle.
Unlike the previous game against Portland, Gonzaga wasn’t able to take over the game as LMU looked focused and continued playing aggressively against the Bulldogs. It was a tough quarter to watch because after a brief lead of 6, the Zags allowed LMU to climb back as players like Evans continued to play hungry and aggressively on both ends of the court. In these 10 minutes, the score was tied 7 times and the lead changed 5 times. Ya, it was a bit tense as the period ended 48-48.
The fourth quarter looked like it was going to be more of the same as the teams went remained tied, 51-51, three minutes into the period until everything changed. Little scored a clean layup followed by a nice dime to O’Connor for a three pointer on the next possession. LMU’s Evans would counter with her own layup, but the Lions would proceed to go on a four minute scoring drought while the Bulldogs went on an eight point run that would essentially secure the W.
Overall, the general performance from the Zags was adequate, but I was really surprised by what I saw out of the Lions given their 0-6 record in the West Coast Conference coming into this match and box score performances that were not indicative of the team that squared up on Saturday. LMU looked hungry and completely unfazed by their rough start to the campaign and their recent track record against the Bulldogs.
Evans in particular played that like her hair was on fire as she eclipses her season average in points by halftime and would go on to finish with 28 points on 10-22 shooting overall and 4-11 from deep. Unfortunately for her, her second-highest ever game scoring performance was not matched by some of her teammates as not one Lion player scored more than 10 points and those other 7 players finished the night shooting 10-32.
Despite the Lions not winning this match, they went on to face-off against San Diego two days later (as part of what I believe was a rescheduling from the previous cancellation due to the LA wildfires) that finished 55-52 and secured the team’s first WCC win. I did not watch this game, but if the Lions played like they did against the Zags, I can see them mounting a bit of a comeback up the conference standings and someone that you wouldn’t really want to see come tournament time.
On an individual level, Ejim’s weekly total of 54 points, 18-27 2FGs, 18-21 FTs, 21 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 turnovers, 3 blocks, and 2 steals earned her a nod from the U.S. Basketball Writer’s Association in the form of their National Player of the Week honor.
When looking at this article from the USBWA, there are two freshman selections each week and based on the brief player overviews that were recently selected, I think Allie Turner has got to have a chance for such honors if she continues playing like she did on Saturday as she finished with a career high 23 points on 4-8 2FG and 5-10 3FG to go along with 9 rebounds, 4 assists, and just 1 turnover.
Despite her lack of national recognition, her performances continue to stand out to those in the know as the Missourian was selected to her fifth WCC Freshman of the Week honor. On the season, Turner is currently averaging 13.4 points, 49.3% 2FG, 41.6% 3FG, 3.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 2.9 turnovers, 0.5 steals, and 0.6 blocks in exactly 33 minutes per game.
Going back to the star senior, Ejim’s eight rebounds in this matchup also helped her officially secure the all-time Gonzaga career rebounds as she surpassed Kay Koppelman’s previous record of 983 that was set across her 4 years from 1987-1991, which is interesting because Sports Reference lists her record as 975. If you want to check on the other possible records Ejim could set before the year’s out, check out this article I wrote previously.