after a nice holiday break, the Zags look to continue their success
After a rough loss to San Francisco Dons in the WCC conference opener, the Zags turned around with a nice bounce-back win against the San Diego Toreros, 66-59. The Bulldogs will look to stretch this recent victory into a winning streak in their matchup later today against conference newcomers Oregon State.
As highlighted in the WCC Conference Preview, the Beavers have faced an unfortunate exodus of talent from last year’s squad that earned a #3 bid in the ‘23-24 NCAA Tournament and a final AP ranking of #8. Such is the state of women’s college basketball in Corvallis that OSU actually returned fewer minutes played, 26.5%, and points scored, 18.2%, from last season compared to Gonzaga, 34.2% and 34.4%, respectively.
This has translated to the Beavers carrying a 4-8 record heading into their second WCC conference game of the season. A victory tonight for OSU seems unlikely given their shooting woes, 39.5% overall and 22% from deep, limited assist production, 11.6 per game, and resulting poor offensive performances, just 59.9 points per game.
While statistics only mean so much and the game needs to be played, I would hope that the Bulldogs earn the victory this afternoon to give the fans the first, of hopefully many, home conference wins.
I’ll be interested to see how Tayla Dalton continues to integrate into this team both from a fitness stance and playing style. This would also be expected directly impact the playing time of Ines Bettencourt, who’s has seen her minutes slowly decline, and potentially either Claire O’Connor or Esther Little depending on the game situation.
Last time out against USD, the Bulldogs had 27 turnovers. That’s absurd and absolutely something that has to change. Obviously, I want to see this team win, but I want to see them win the right way and dropping 27 turnovers doesn’t really appeal to me.
Hit the comments below to share your thoughts on the match!