no matter the nature, always tough to see the season end
After a season full of various ups and downs like injuries, personal loss, an extended winning streak, and falling short in the WCC conference, the Bulldogs were flashing aspects of their ceiling after entering the WBIT. Unfortunately for the Zags yesterday evening, they fell short in an overtime game on the road against the Minnesota Golden Gophers 77-82.
The Gophers came out of the gate hot and produced a 17-8 lead over the course of the first five minutes and while the Zags would make a charge, they still finished the period down 16-25 after a 3 minute scoring drought. This drought correlated with Vonny sitting on the bench across its entirety.
The second quarter kicked off a little differently with Ejim making the first points on a nice layup that kicked off a five minute run where the Zags outscored their opponent 9-2 and cut their deficit to just 2. The game would go back and forth over the remaining minutes, the Bulldogs did just enough to eek out a 1 point lead entering the half.
At the break, Yvonne had 15 points with only Allie Turner and Bree Salenbien’s 6 points representing players that had scored more than one basket. Most of the issues were coming from the three point line as the team went 5-18 including and 0-3 and 0-4 performance from Maud Huijbens and Ines Bettencourt, respectively. Thankfully, the team was making their two point shots (nice to have Vonny, huh?) with a 10-14 performance. They were also doing well in the turnover department with just 6 compared to 10 assists, but the rebounding looked to be a concern with the Gophers getting more rebounds than the Bulldogs at 8-7 despite Ejim snagging 5 herself. Considering the offensive rebounding marks from the Zags this campaign, I was getting a little concerned, particularly since Maud and Yvonne had 2 fouls.
As has occurred on several matches this season, the Zags exited the locker room hot and extended their lead to 7 points within several minutes. However, the gang hit one of their patented dry patches for the next five minutes that allowed the Gophers to bring the game within 2 with as many minutes remaining. Things were starting to look up though as the Zags made a little run to finish the period up by 56-50. Something of note in the third quarter, Vonny grabbed 5 rebounds which basically eclipsed her first half total of 6.
Gonzaga opened up the final period of regulation sluggish as they failed to hit a basket over the initial two minutes and allowed Minnesota the cut the lead to just 2 points. Despite a 1-5 performance thus far in the game, Ines hit a clutch three-pointer that essentially kick started an 11-6 run that saw the game at 67-61 with just 3:37 left. At this point, ESPN’s analytics had the Bulldogs probability of winning at about 95%.
Unfortunately, though the Zags got tight and collapsed in the remaining time. The Gophers managed to hit three 3s to take a three point lead with just over a minute remaining. On the subsequent possession, Allie Turner managed to get herself free and drain her 4th rainmaker of the evening that tied the score 70-70, which eventually sent the game into overtime as Ejim missed a clock-expiring layup.
If you’re remembering the final score of the game then I don’t have to tell you that the extra time period was emotionally draining to watch as the Zags just simply didn’t have it. They shot 2-6 in overtime and 0-3 from beyond the arc, coughed up 2 turnovers, and were called for 6 fouls leading to 10 free throws by the Golden Gophers, 8 of which they made. A lot of things can be said, but you can’t send your opposition to the charity stripe and give up free points while the clock is off. These mistakes compounded to mean the end of the road for the Bulldogs.
I’ll be writing more on the team’s season shortly, but I want to highlight this quote from Fortier given to the Spokesman, “We didn’t make quite enough adjustments on our end. There were just a couple too many easy possessions that we left out there…”
If that doesn’t summarize the achilles heel of this year’s squad, I’m not what does. Sad times in Spokane. As a Zag fan since before the Men went to the Big Dance, I’ve always found March a confusing month emotionally speaking. I get all excited for the possibility of post-season success and am eventually let down because only 1 team can take the trophy home and the dice just hasn’t rolled right for my school. But I’m not giving up. I may follow a bunch of teams that have never or rarely have won their respective championships, incidentally mind you although I do think some of it must be karma, but I’m not giving up and neither should you.
NIL might be casting doubt on the concept of loyalty within the college sports landscape, but I’m a die-hard Zag fan and won’t stop until the program proves I can’t trust them. Please tune-in for the season review articles I plan to write before things kind of settle down in this realm of sports.